We are reaching the tail end of the season for flowers and pollinators. So I was I was pleased to see this Painted Lady right at the end of my quick trip to Dorset last week. I was waiting for a bus in Abbotsbury to take me to Weymouth to catch the train back to London. A clump of Red Valerian was still in flower in a nearby front garden and this beauty suddenly appeared.

 To quote the website of Butterfly Conservation: "The Painted Lady is a long-distance migrant, which causes the most spectacular butterfly migrations observed in Britain and Ireland. Each year it spreads northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, recolonising mainland Europe and reaching Britain and Ireland. In some years it is an abundant butterfly, frequenting gardens and other flowery places in late summer."

 I can't say I have found it to be abundant but perhaps it's not surprising to see one on the South Coast where it would first make land on its long journey.