Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar

This afternoon we went for a guided walk on Fallin Bing. A bing is a spoil heap from coal mining and Fallin is one of the former mining villages to the east of Stirling. You can read about the pit and the development of the bing as a local nature reserve here. The walk was a joint venture between Butterfly Conservation Trust and the local branch of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. 

There were a few butterflies - common blue, meadow brown, ringlet - and moths. I saw my first cinnabar moth caterpillars of the year on the ragwort. The bing is now a wildflower meadow - clover, birds foot trefoil, vipers bugloss, St. John's wort, butterfly orchids, common centaury , lady's bedstraw, self heal, ox eye daisies, yellow rattle, ragwort, ribwort plantain and probably others I've forgotten. It is utterly transformed. 

It was an extraordinarily slow walk but I learned so much. I loved it. 

Home now and the day, although dry, is cloudy and pretty grey. Summer was yesterday!