wingspan          : 5.2 - 6 cm

                         male                 : yellow

                         larval foodplant: Purging  Buckthorn

For the first 2 or 3 years I had seen the odd Brimstone fluttering by in the early spring. Having read that the larval food plant was Buckthorn, I bought 50 saplings and planted them along the regular flightpath of my spring visitors.

I then spent the next 4 years vainly trying to attract their interest to  my shrubs, but to no apparent avail. Repeated beatings of the Buckthorn failed to show up any of the large green caterpillars.

 

Then this spring I noticed a female fluttering around one of the Buckthorns. There are 3 together in a "clumplet". She was only interested in the one were the leaves were only just emerging. She placed her eggs on what would become the underside of the leaves when they had finished unfurling. This took her quite some time, with numerous rest breaks.

 

First sighting                       - May 2005 

 

Highest yearly counts                     Frequency

                      2005(May)    - 1 

                      2006(May)    - 3  

                      2007(May)    - 6

                      2008(May)    - 2        Increasing 

 

 

 

   2010 sightings:

   

  2011 sightings:

 

April  w/e				May w/e				June
9th	16th	23rd	30th	7th	14th	21st	28th	4th
2	2	1	1	2	3	1	1	1