first of many

19-07-26 First of many refers to this amazing peacock as well as the first trip up the back trail at Saltoun Big Wood, slightly ahead of the annual butterfly festival that will be kicking off end of July into August, just as soon as the devil's bit scabious appears - the purple flowers that bring all the butterflies out of the surrounding woods. These peacocks (just 2) were amazing and were the first of a newly emerged batch that will take us into the butterfly end-of-year game with some of them heading into hibernation-like stasis once the warm weather finishes, to over-Winter into next Spring. I cycled up to Saltoun, mainly to see the dragonflies.After padlocking my bike in the woods, oddly I didn't recognise the usual tree and parked under a different one, I was keen to get along to the first pond. However there were flowering thistles opposite the old car park and a new peacock there, keen to have its photo taken. When I turned off the main road with my bike and rumbled along the…