My first sighting of this unpromising year

My first butterfly of this year, a canary-yellow male brimstone, materialised in exactly the same spot as last year, zig-zagging along an ivy hedge in my garden. This year, however, its meticulous search for a female was 15 days later, testimony to the cold, late spring.

In Tove Jansson's Moomintroll books, a golden butterfly is a lucky omen for the summer ahead, but my optimism last year was misplaced. After a mediocre 2015 (except for the brimstone, which enjoyed its best season in 40 years of scientific monitoring), 2016 is not promising much.