Brimstones fall from sky to bask in the winter sun

Should any further confirmation be required that we are firmly in the transition period of “winterspring”, the brimstone butterflies are beginning to emerge.

Perhaps you have seen one. They are, after all, difficult to miss – the veined pale green wings the colour of newly unfurled leaves.

In recent years I have attempted (unsuccessfully, so far) to coax brimstones into my garden, planting several alder buckthorns which are the favoured trees for their larvae to munch on.

The butterflies have been in my mind because they appear so perfectly suited to this time of year – when we humans are most certainly not.

With the weather continuing to be so mild – and it remains so over the weekend with more rain from the west – all of us who have endured the dark months of winter struggle to adapt.

What to wear in order to get us through the changeable month of February is a perennial battle.

In a matter of days we’ve lurched from snowfall to a balmy 18C recorded in London. As I write this, I’m sitting among commuters on the train who are swaddled in their scarves and winter coats, perspiring under the blasting heating.

But cast the layers off at your peril. Owing to a polar vortex disruption, the weather could turn once more towards the end of the month, with snow potentially returning to parts of the north. There remains talk of February having a sting in the tail.

Amid such uncertainty, I am preferring a different outlook to how best to cope with this meteorological rollercoaster. Forget your long-range forecasts, the brimstones do it best. Living in the moment, emerging resplendent in their spring finery and basking in every available bout of sunshine, no matter how brief.

Brimstone butterflies have leaf-like wings