This pale lime beauty was my sixteenth Brimstone of the year (I saw my first on 27 February) but she was the first female, and the first to stay still long enough for a few photos. Male Brimstones usually emerge first from their winter hibernation (as adults) and can be seen flying purposefully up and down hedgerows, footpath edges and woodland rides, searching for females, which emerge a little later than their male suitors.