It was another fine spring day today; after an early frost, the sky was clear and the temperature gradually rose to about 10 or 11 degrees.
I headed over to my daughter's house late morning with a view to spending a relaxing few hours in the garden with her and her daughter. The garden is a real haven for butterflies; in the summer months there seem to be butterflies constantly around the flowers and plants, flying to and fro as they look for nectar. In the past they have seen silver washed fritillaries and only last year we spotted purple hairstreaks in the oak tree at the bottom of the garden.
Today, the first butterfly I saw was a Red Admiral. It occasionally flew over the fence to next door but then returned shortly afterwards to the same plant. A Brimstone appeared a little while later, but unlike yesterday, it didn't settle and I thought that they might be the only butterflies I would see today. However, not long afterwards another butterfly flew across the garden and settled for several minutes on a nearby bush - a Peacock. I went over to photograph it but as I was doing so, I heard my son-in-law say that he could see yet another butterfly on the neighbouring shrub, which turned out to be a Comma! Four species in one garden within an hour or two, was a good count I thought; and now just a small tortoiseshell to see to complete the quota of hibernating butterflies. I don't think I saw any of these till at least the end of March last year.
Red Admiral
Red Admiral
Peacock
Comma
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