WITH such an abysmal year for butterflies in many parts of the Highlands, how refreshing it was to see A Guide to Garden Butterflies chart in one of the national newspapers last weekend.
There were 18 butterflies illustrated plus two moths. The moths were the silver Y and the six-spot burnet. Both these are among the few day-flying moths. The silver Y moth also flies at night and is also a migrant moth. I am still not quite sure why two moths would feature in a chart of butterflies but perhaps I missed this somewhere.
As is often the case with national charts or information on butterflies, only certain of the butterflies occur in the Highlands. Of the 18 illustrated some are not present here, such as the marbled white, the gatekeeper, the large skipper, holly blue and the brimstone.
As for the others, the comma is about to reach the Highlands, as it is spreading from the south. The ringlet is a recent coloniser but is found in more places each year. It is possible it has always been here but overlooked.
Interestingly, I found a brown butterfly along a roadside verge near Inverness last week and I can only think it was a ringlet. However, it will have to go down as a square bracket, in other words not proven!
The selection of butterflies on the chart was interesting and the first one was one of my favourites, the small copper. It is only about 34mm across the wings and yet the colour is so vivid and the chart does not really do justice to the coppery colour, although some books describe it as gold.
We are fortunate in the Highlands in that for some unexplained reason there is more gold and less black on the wings and this shows in the photograph I took, shown here. The butterfly was on a roadside verge and was difficult to stalk with the camera but the time involved was worth the effort.
Many years ago I was involved in the reintroduction of the other copper, the large copper. It was the Dutch race brought into Woodwalton Fen in what was then Huntingdonshire.
There was also a really memorable incident with the small copper, as some years ago at Ardnamurchan, west of Fort William, I found one of the rare colour variations.
There in a woodland glade was the form of the small copper called alba because, as the name suggests, it is a type of albino with no gold colouring. It was flying in a woodland glade along with several other normal coloured small coppers and looked most odd.
As for the other butterflies on the chart, they included some that are migrants to us each year such as the painted lady, the red admiral and the large white. The "browns" are presented by the ringlet, gatekeeper and the meadow brown.
One of the best and most accurately depicted of the butterflies on the chart was the speckled wood which is unusual in that the adults can be seen flying anytime from late February to early November. It is an intriguing butterfly as there are distinct colour variations in different parts of the UK.
The Scottish population, which seems to be still spreading in the Highlands, has larger wings and the under surfaces often have a hint of purple around the outer edges.
Looking at the chart again I think the authors could not have done better in their selection and for a change they did include the Highlands. The chart was brought out by The Daily Telegraph with the support of Butterfly Conservation which is doing so much for butterflies and moths these days.
It was also good to see that it was supported by the huge superstore Marks and Spencer and I only wish other such stores would follow suit in their support for wildlife conservation.
l The record of the week has to be a badger. It happened one evening at about 11 o'clock when I went up into the bedroom.
As usual, I looked out of the bedroom window at the pond. Below me, about 10 yards from the house, was the large bird table and just beyond was some wholewheat I had sprinkled on the ground for the mandarin and mallard ducklings to feed on at first light the next morning. There tucking into the wheat was a badger.
To say I was taken back was putting it mildly and I grabbed the binoculars with indecent haste. I stood watching the badger and then a surprise as another badger joined it. There were two badgers feeding in the garden only about 10 yards away.
There was also some strange behaviour as the two badgers started rubbing their backsides on each other - I have no idea why!
I could see the varying colours of grey and brown on the backs of the badgers which contrasted with their black and white faces that were so conspicuous.
What surprised me was just how long they stayed eating the grain but they were still feeding when I turned away.
Since then I have been putting half apples out at dusk nearby and I think they are coming after them every night.
Looking down at them so close, how anyone can persecute such animals I have no idea.
I had difficulty in sleeping that night with the excitement and thrill of live badgers so close and in the garden.
