Butterflywatch: brimstones in midwinter raise adaptability issues

A male brimstone butterfly. ‘This year, I saw one in Surrey on 15 February alongside the blossoming blackthorn and cherry plum.’ Photograph: Living Levels Photography/Alamy

The first butterfly of the year is usually a heart-lifting sign of spring. Now it’s arriving in midwinter.

Spotting a lemon-yellow male brimstone jauntily cruising along a hedge filled with the bridal-white flowers of blackthorn is when spring starts for me, and that’s usually in mid-March. This year, I saw one in Surrey on 15 February alongside the blossoming blackthorn and cherry plum. My first butterfly of the year turned up on New Year’s Day: a red admiral, enjoying our extremely mild midwinter.