A few more rain showers in the past two days but still not enough to coax any new flowers into bloom. The ground is still looking very dry as if there had been no rain at all.

I added another new butterfly species to my Downs list, the relatively common Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines brittanica). Another of those signs of Spring, it is one of the earliest butterflies to appear that has not over-wintered as an adult like the Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) which was already out in large numbers a month ago. I can only assume I have missed the Orange-tip here over the past 11 years because I was never close enough to get a positive ID and perhaps if I’d only seen females I could have mistaken them for the Small White (Pieris rapae).

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