The best is still to come

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/02/butterflywatch-best-still-come

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I was planting a hedge in my garden on the only sunny weekend in March when I gave a shout: three male brimstones were dancing down the hedgeline. The first butterfly of the year is always a lovely moment, and my first has never before been a lemon-yellow brimstone.

I shouldn’t have been surprised because the brimstone enjoyed its best year since 1976 (when the scientific monitoring of butterflies began) last summer. This unmistakable butterfly – our only yellow species apart from the clouded yellow, a more golden-coloured migrant – is one of five species which endure our winters by hibernating as adult butterflies, so there should be lots about this spring.

Since those brimstones, however, the butterflies have vanished again. I’ve seen a few small tortoiseshells (another hibernator), but cold, sunless conditions mean that even these robust creatures are not yet flying out in search of mates.

The hibernators may be chanced upon during any sunny day in the winter, but this month we will see the first butterflies that are truly a sign of spring – those which hatch from their chrysalises in sustained warm weather: orange-tips, holly blues and speckled woods.

All these spring species enjoy our parks and gardens, if we can leave some holly and ivy for the holly blue and “weeds” such as garlic mustard or lady’s smock for orange-tip caterpillars.

After two better-than-average summers, this could become a really excellent year for butterflies – given warmth, sunshine and a smidgin of well-timed rain. Butterfly-lovers don’t ask for much!