www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I don't necessarily agree with the logic and conclusion, but there is an interesting summary of British butterflies' early emergence this year at :

http://news.independent.co.uk/environme ... 567979.ece.

Guy

Reading this, it might explain what I have been seeing in my area latley.

I have seen holly blues in locations I have not before. I have also seen orange-tips where its foodplant does not grow anywhere in facinity.

I have seen the fooplants (Garlic mustard) a fair bit away from where I saw this one and have not seen them in that location the orange tip was found, ever. The cuckoo flowers are even farther away, on both sides of the estate I live on and thats a heck of a distance. It takes me around 20mins walking, to get to the location where the plants grow.

I have seen loads of GV White though. And foxglove in my area has started blooming, and they look smaller than usual. They are usually taller before they bloom.

Would this weather effect small tortoiseshell? I seen the caterpillars a bit later than normal this year and still seen courtship on end of first week in May.

A similar article has now appeared in the Torygraph, with a slide show (any of these your pictures?):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.j ... bfly22.xml

Guy