A few bumblebees have been busy in the back garden during the occasional sunny interval over a couple of weeks now but we did not expect that they would be joined this morning by....
....the first butterfly of the year, a peacock. Not that we should really have been surprised as the weather is perfect for an early-flying butterfly, with clear skies, no wind, and a still-air temperature of over 13C.
However joyful we were to see this butterfly we couldn't refrain from patting ourselves on the back because these first butterflies and bees are dependent for their early appearance on the food in the garden - and we're therefore thrilled that our planting over the last two years while we've been developing the garden has produced some flowers which these pioneer insects can exploit.
Both the pictures of the bee and the butterfly are of the same plant, a heather, one we bought over the internet two years ago. How the nursery managed to persuade a heather to flower at a time when we could still have snow and plunging temperatures is a mystery to me, but it has definitely had the desired effect.
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