Saturday 15th June 2019

My photographic journey is very closely linked to my love for all creatures great and small and my desire to find a career in ecology and/or conservation. I not only want to photograph the wonderful wildlife in the Borders, I also want to be able to identify it. With that in mind I spent a wonderful day on Saturday at the 'Butterflies and Bees of the Borders' event, run by the Butterfly Conservation Trust.

The day even was led by the wonderful Apithanny Bourne and Anthony McCluskey, two people who are obviously very passionate and knowledge about their subjects.

We were presented with very interesting and informative talks on Moths, Butterflies and Bumblee Bees. While I feel fairly confident about identifying Butterflies, my ID skills when it comes to moths and bees still has a long way to go!

The weather stayed dry for our walk in the afternoon and we were treated to sightings of 6 different Butterflies - Green Veined White, Red Admiral, Small Copper, Large White, Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell - several Bumblee Bees, a Chimney Sweeper Moth and a beautiful Mayfly.

I'm now back home with a long list of reference books to buy and study. A couple of local places have also been recommended for sightings of the Northern Brown Argus Butterfly. Watch this space.....

Green Veined White Butterfly Bumble_Bee-6014 Painted_Lady-6078