Swallows ! I was driving with my son to Courzieu and we saw 2 swallows. Now it feels like Spring is really here.

Later today I checked out a favourite forest drive, and added 2 more firsts for the year. One was Large Tortoiseshell. These have been out and about for quite some weeks, but I had not seen one yet. This one was so tattered by combat that it could hardly fly.

The other was a delight. First I spotted two tiny butterflies whirling around each other as if in their own miniture whirlwind, then the light caught them and they sparkled like emeralds : Green Hairstreaks ! One particular conifer tree was just buzzing with them, but they stayed very high making photography very difficult.