Perfect Blue
14 Jul 2016
Very tempting to just fill the blog with nothing but pictures of butterflies this week, but we've got loads of events to tell you about as well...
It seems we've been waiting forever to see some more butterflies at Haddo, apart from the brown Ringlets seem to be everywhere at the moment. Finally, last Sunday, I took advantage of a brief bit of sun to head up to the heathland in Craigie Wood to see what I could find. The walk (and a bit of scrambling through some rough ground) paid off, with a gorgeous group of Common Blue, Small Heath and Meadow Brown butterflies and a heap of Six Spot Burnet Moths on the purple Knapweed.
The butterflies will hopefully still be around over the next week or so so we can inlcude them in the annual Big Butterfly Count- a national butterfly survey run by Butterfly Conservation. If you're out and about (at Haddo or anywhere in the UK before the 7th August and see any butterflies you can add your sightings to the survey at bigbutterflycount.org
Summer Holiday Events
If you're looking for something to keep the kids busy over the holidays then you're a bit spoiled for choice at Haddo over the next few weeks.
For older children, our John Muir Awards start next week. This is a four-day long adventure with the Aberdeenshire Council Ranger Service, learning all sorts of outdoor and survival skills with the reward of a recognised certificate at the end of it. It's free to attend but places are very limited so if you'd like to get involved you can find all the details here.
Then on the 26th and 27th we've got two creative craft days for younger kids- one as part of the NTS/Scotland's Gardens Open Day and one featuring crafts made from reused and recycled material and led by local artist Jemima Chillingworth.
There's a few quieter options for grown ups and families as well. A Summer Wildflower Wander on Sunday 24th will also look for butterflies, moths, grasshoppers and summer birds or, if slightly more formal flower beds are your thing then there are guided tours of the Terrace Gardens on Tuesday 26th July.
As always you can find all the details and how to book by checking our events page.
Contacting Us
We are having a few broadband issues in the office at Haddo at the moment. We're hoping to get them sorted as soon as possible but in the meantime we can only check emails once or twice a day (usually at the start/end of each day). If you're contacting us to book on events we will get back to you as soon as we can but please bear with us if you don't get a reply straight away.
You can always call us on 01651 851041 and leave a message or drop by the office and talk to us in person.
