Let’s have a break from all the bird blogs (there are more insects coming next week, I promise).

Just as Friday 20 March was The day of the Wheatears, so Wednesday 18 March – a bright sunny day – was the day of the Peacocks.

A strong cool easterly was blowing across Weymouth and Portland that day but, in sheltered areas, the sun was warm and temperatures rose to the mid teens (Celsius), encouraging insects to emerge.

These were my first Peacocks of 2026, and there were a lot of them: two flitted up from the flowering Blackthorn trees as I walked a circuit of RSPB Lodmoor; four were found basking on the rocks in King Barrow Quarry and another three in the more exposed Tout Quarry; and I found five along the paths of RSPB Radipole late afternoon. I was in butterfly heaven!