We're off! Unfortunately, the new year blew in on a nocturnal gale, which was replaced by a day of cold rain, which cleared very slowly from the north-west. For once, Gloucestershire was the best of the Purple counties to be in, with the rain easing after lunch. I was deterred from visiting Savernake, where I usually go on new year's day, as the rain lingered all day there.
I checked my local larvae (on the UK butterflyers map, the wooded valley near Daneway Banks). Here's No 3, on a twig scar -
and No 2 aligned up against a bud -
2025 starts with the woodland vegetation ridiculously well advanced: Hazel catkins and Primroses are well out, and I even found Spurge Laurel coming into bloom today.
Another early butterfly season may be about to unfurl... Whatever, 2025 is a critical year for our butterflies, after the annus horribilis that was 2024...
