A good year for migrants

After a rather chaotic start to the day, involving having our computers cleaned, liaising with our next-door neighbour over fencing and getting Chris smart enough to attend a funeral, Pete and I set off to Godmanchester just after 11am. It should have been a straightforward journey, but unfortunately there was an accident and we ended up stuck on the A1(M) for nearly an hour - luckily we were able to watch seven red kites spiralling and playing in a thermal.

Once we arrived, I headed off to record some quadrats, basking in the unaccustomed summer heat. The common knapweed has just started to flower, and in one sheltered location there were clouds of butterflies - large skippers, meadow browns and quite a few painted ladies.

This seems to be a good year for migrants, with many sightings of painted lady all across southern Britain. I'v also seen two clouded yellows flying at speed, one locally and one in the Brecks, and several migrant species have turned up in the moth trap. I suspect that they were all blown across in the very strong southerly winds that caused some disruption a couple of weeks ago. Having arrived so early, they should have a chance to breed, so we may see many morepainted ladies and clouded yellows later in the summer.