Time for an update on the butterfly front …
Usually I see Large skippers before I see Meadow browns but this year it was the other way around, with the local Meadow browns emerging slightly earlier than usual. Who knows why – maybe something to do with the crazy weather we’ve been experiencing – warm one minute, cool the next. My first Meadow browns were seen fluttering over the wildflowers in the meadows at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park on 3 June.

And, despite a keen breeze and large fluffy clouds frequently obscuring the sun, I spotted my first six Large skippers basking on Bramble and other shrubs along the leeward side of a coastal hedgerow two days later, on 5 June.