Country Diary: Highlands

The AGM of the Highland branch of Butterfly Conservation was recently held in Inverness and featured much unusual, excited small-talk about the summer. For this was the "year of butterflies and moths". The influx of the rare hummingbird hawk-moth was almost unprecedented. Some people thought they were looking at a hummingbird as the moth hovered in front of blossoms seeking nectar. The wings beat at such a high speed they are scarcely visible and they make a high pitched humming that is said to be more audible to women than men.

The new colony of ringlet butterflies on the east coast was also exciting - only single butterflies had been previously recorded in the Highlands. Other species such as the orange tip and comma have extended their range. But the butterfly of the year was the peacock, whose colourful presence on garden buddleias outnumbered that of all the other butterflies put together. By contrast, the small tortoiseshell was so scarce people had been trying to spot one.

The formal talk was about butterfly transects, where every week in the summer an observer walks a set route divided into sections and the butterflies are counted. The conditions - such as temperature, time of day and lack of strong winds - have to be just right. While listening, I worked out that I did my first butterfly transect in Northamptonshire 40 years ago. Then, looking round, I estimated the average age of the audience must have been between 55 and 60 years with not a single youngster, which is a pity.