SMALL TORTOISESHELL

This attractive resident butterfly is another species that hibernates as an adult in winter – even tucked away inside our homes – and emerges on warm sunny days in March and April.

When times are good it can manage three broods in a year, its caterpillars feeding on nettles – as do those of the red admiral, peacock and comma. The perfect reason to leave a patch of nettles in your garden!

The small tortoiseshell has good years and bad, and its fortunes have fluctuated over recent decades.

It can be identified by its marmalade orange wings marked with black and gold blocks along the front, and blue fringes around the rear edges. Close up, with wings spread as it basks in the sun, it is a glorious looking butterfly, and will readily visit gardens in rural or urban areas in spring and summer to feed on flowers.

Free-to-use cash machines are vanishing at an alarming rate, according to Which?

The consumer group said its latest analysis suggests there has been a spike in the number of people forced to pay to withdraw their own money from ATMs.

Some of the most deprived areas, where people are more likely to depend on cash, have seen a significant shift from free-to-use dispensers to machines that generally charge up to £2 per withdrawal in recent years, Which? found.

Which? wants to see a “clear blueprint” on the future of cash. The Government has previously pledged to legislate on the issue.

ATMs are the most commonly-used means of withdrawing cash, with UK Finance figures showing 91% of cash withdrawals took place through cash machines in 2019.

While there are other options, such as cashback and counter withdrawals that may play a greater role in future, ATMs currently remain an important indicator of access levels.