Monarchs

Saturday morning was adrift in butterflies, particularly Monarch butterflies, and it was far too hot in Lanark to countenance doing very much at all except curling up in the shade of the big trees for a while and watching the bees, butterflies and dragonflies fluttering about. By mid morning, the temperature was blazing, and the humidity was astonishing - the experience was akin to wandering in a Brazilian rainforest.

These butterflies appeared to be female as they lacked the scent (pheromone) spot on their hind wings which would identify them at once as male specimens. As a general rule, female Monarchs are not as colourful as their brothers, but in both cases, the very faded wings and languid behaviour seem to indicate that they are older ladies, probably of the summer generation which will not migrate in August. Their vibrant children have already hatched out and taken exuberantly to the air in the highlands - there were clouds of bright young Monarch butterflies about yesterday, but they did not alight anywhere long enough to be photographed.

Last evening was a trifle cooler but (sigh) only by a few degrees. At nightfall, I pottered outside with my tea for an hour or so and watched several little brown bats circling about in the garden behind the little blue house in the village. The cicadas were certainly in fine form - the air was filled with their courting songs. This morning, it is already hot and humid, and we are in for another scorcher - there will be no release from the "hot stuff" for several days. I am by no means hastening toward the next turning of the seasons, but am already thinking longingly about autumn and its cooler days. This crone's brain seems to slow down considerably in the heat - some of the slowing is indubitably "an aging thing", but most of the present lethargy is related to the heat.