If I would have to pinpoint one characteristic of this year’s butterfly season, it would be the almost total absence of whites. In a normal year, you would see large numbers of Small white (Pieris rapae), Green-veined white (Pieris napi) and Large white (Pieris brassicae) fly around with the odd Southern small white (Pieris mannii) in between. However, the first two broods this year were very low in numbers, so I had been fearing the worst for the third and final brood.
Thankfully, my concerns were unjust. Probably due to the wet weather and the abundance of food for the caterpillars and plenty of nectar, the third brood was as abundant as ever before.
On my doorstep, a female Large white was happily hopping from flower to flower.
A few streets down from our house is a small area bursting with flowers. At least a dozen male Small whites were present, providing plenty of photo opportunities. Amongst the crowd I discovered this mating pair:
Contrary to us humans (at least I hope so for you!), I noticed that a butterfly’s sex life is continuously disturbed by unwanted male visitors going after the female with utter disregard for them being busy doing their thing:
I witnessed the romantic pair switch locations three times within ten minutes to escape the constant attention of other males:
So next time you and your partner are enjoying each other’s intimate company, please take a moment to consider how lucky you are compared to these butterflies!
Red admiral 
I have noticed a small increase in the numbers of P rapae in the last week or so but overall it is far lower than in a ‘normal’ year. We have not had typical sustained weather patterns to help bring in migrants to help boost the native population. I suppose the brassica growers are happy though!
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