Butterfly Isle

All photos by Jo Sinclair

I noticed peacocks first, arranged like velvet scatter-cushions on the path. Then I reached the river bank. Afternoon sun radiated from the River Granta through lush undergrowth. A breeze scented with dame's-violet carried a flurry of brimstones. Some of these butterflies were not so plush with their ragged wings, but they looked like sun-shot chlorophyll.

Skittish orange-tips bumped the bigger brimstones off the flowers, raced away, then returned in pairs. After a while they all seemed inebriated and wobbled out of sight. In their turn came green-veined whites and large whites.

The brimstones and orange-tips, early spring species, are veined like sunlight passing through translucent cow-parsley.