And the first butterfly is ...

... not what I expected. As I said in this post yesterday, the brimstones are usually the first to show themselves in spring, but on my butterfly hunt yesterday I saw this:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 300mm, ISO200, f8, 1/250s}

It's a comma (Polygonia c-album), usually not out before April, and it wasn't the only one, some were flying about, and when two met in the air, they rose vertically, circling each other in a double spiral going upwards.

Some were just basking in the sun:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 300mm, ISO200, f8, 1/160s}

Here's a closer shot. You can see the wings are worn; these aren't youngsters, they hibernated and woke up when the sun came out:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 300mm, ISO200, f8, 1/160s}

They look totally different from the side with their wings closed, and you can see here where they get their name (the "c-album" in their Latin name simply means "white c"):

^{Olympus XZ-1, 112mm, ISO100, f5.6, 1/160s, repost}

Thanks for watching!

A word to @englishtchrivy: these like nettles too!