For the past week or so, I have seen the occasional brownish flutter but it was always on the periphery of my vision and I was never able to identify what it was. I suspected a Peacock butterfly, as these are often the first ones we see, but could not confirm it.
Today, I finally saw it in the polytunnel desperately trying to escape. Apologies for the poor picture quality (done in a rush with a camera phone against the overexposed polytunnel roof on a sunny day and without my spectacles!) but it clearly shows the peacock butterfly.
The polytunnel has a single door at the north end where the insects fly in; they then head for the south end where there is no door. Note to self: only buy polytunnels in future with doors at both ends. I erect a net screen over the door in summer to keep the butterflies out but there are always a few that get in, overwhelmingly small whites, and do not survive.
With the help of Mary and my butterfly net we managed to catch the peacock and release it outside.
The peacock butterfly (Aglais io) overwinters in the UK so is often one of the first butterflies to appear in Spring.
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Small white seen in the garden on 3rd April. I believe this is a little early as they tend to appear from mid-April onwards.
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