Early Season Butterflies.

 It has been a very busy spring for me so far this year. There have been many long walks hoping for the season to get going, but the strong easterly winds seemed to hold much back. Many sites were reporting good numbers of the butterflies I was hoping to get locally, but most walks were pretty barren of butterflies.

I was pleased however, to find a resting male Brimstone, resting on a bush where I was hoping for an early Green Hairstreak.

Male Brimstone.

Another search on another day, this time with Lisa, a lovely male Orange-tip was found roosting at the top of a Hawthorn sapling. Both of us took several images before the sun started to show, which prompted the butterfly to open his wings.

Male Orange-tip.

One of the species that have shown very well so far this year locally is the Speckled Wood. As usual, the males were the first to appear, but it wasn't long before some stunning females were seen. I was also extremely lucky with some of the females posing well for me before they became worn.

Male Speckled Wood.

3 different Female Speckled Wood.

This winter I really struggled to find many Wall Brown larvae. A friend of Lisa's wanted to come and look for some, but we were a little too late, as most would have either pupated or become nocturnal, but we did find 2 Meadow Brown and 2 Marbled White larvae. These were all around 2 cm. long, so still have a lot of growing to do. These larvae are quite distinctive, with the Meadow Brown being very hairy, and the Marbled White having a brown head.

Meadow Brown larva.

Marbled White larva.