NATURE lover Mary Colburn of Clayton Brook enjoys nothing more than sitting in her conservatory watching the butterflies above.

When she spotted the same species on the BBC's Country File on Sunday, she learned that her visitors fluttering about outside were called Painted Ladies.

Mary was thrilled to hear from presenter John Craven that the rare butterflies hadn't been seen in Britain for 20 years.

She enthused: "They are all over the garden, I counted 19 at one time. My husband took some pictures so that we could identify which variety they were."

Mary consulted the library to find out more: "The Painted Ladies have come all the way from North Africa," she said: "but whatever our winter turns out like, they won't survive it, they can't breed in our climate.

"So it could be another 20 years before we see them again!"

Painted ladies have also been spotted in the south of England this summer but so far Mary appears to be the first person to record their visiting northern parts.

She also identified four other varieties of butterflies in her garden at the same time: Peacocks; Red Admirals; Small Tortoise Shells; and one called the Comma.

And now she's waiting to hear from Country File to see whether they wish to feature her garden on the weekly nature programme.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.