A glorious day yesterday (20th April 2011) in Lancashire. I went to survey the site where I have collected nests for the past two years. There was a Small Tortoiseshell basking in almost every patch of nettles (and there are a lot of patches!). I saw many pairs of Small Tortoiseshells spiralling upwards from the nettles throughout the day also, and late in the day, I watched as a male drummed his antennae against the wings of a female trying to get her interest. There were two or three Peacocks flying around

Caterpillar update  

We've had a busy few weeks collecting, feeding and monitoring Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock caterpillars. We've processed over 1000 with only about 20 left to monitor for parasitism or pupation. We are now in the period between the first and second generations of Small Tortoiseshells, and have only found one small nest of Peacocks in the past week so they might be drawing to a close.