As well as the second broods of butterflies I blogged about on Thursday, there are three other butterfly species that have recently begun to emerge locally.** I didn’t include them in my previous post, as these species have different life cycles: they overwinter as adults, generally hibernating somewhere sheltered, though sometimes appearing briefly on unseasonably warm winter days.

Peacocks awaken in the Spring, laying their eggs during May, with the adults emerging from mid July.

The Comma’s life cycle is a little different. They also emerge from their winter sleep in springtime, but they usually have two broods each year, with the first eggs being laid between early April and mid May, and the second from late June to mid August.

The Brimstone is another British butterfly that spends most of its life as an adult, and enjoys the distinction of being ‘our longest-lived butterfly’ (Life Cycles of British & Irish Butterflies). It only has one brood per year, with eggs being laid between mid April and the start of June, with the adults emerging at the beginning of August.

** I would love to be able to include Small tortoiseshell in this blog, as they also overwinter as adults and their second broods should be emerging about now but, tragically, I have only seen one of this species in 2024, back at the start on April. And most of my butterfly-loving acquaintances have noticed a similarly disastrous decline in numbers, with some not having seen a single Small tortoiseshell this year.