1st October update.
Well, that's more or less the " butterfly year " over in the garden. About half a dozen species managed to appear regularly up to about 25th September, but since then, despite some fine weather, there has been a steady decline with only Whites still around plus the very occasional Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell or Comma, especially with the most attractive nectar sources dying off. Perhaps others, eg. with late flowering Buddleia, have had better results recently.
The predicted massive explosion of Painted Ladies scheduled for August and September never really took off with much the same numbers being maintained as for July,admittedly still very considerable and unprecedented in recent years. Predictions can certainly be unreliable - especially those about the future.
Regards,
Freddy