Yesterday I watched several peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies making their now regular visits to the garden. Most are just passing through, but yesterday I noticed a comma circling around a sheltered corner containing a small, well established patch of stinging nettles currently only about one foot high. It alternated between settling on the nettles and then resting on a small nearby log left as deadwood habitat (photo attached). When the butterfly had finally left the garden I noticed it had laid several single eggs on the upper side of the leaf. The egg is tiny and the attached photo shows it resting against a sting spine/hair. Another spine/hair in the top left of the photo helps to give some sense of scale. This patch of nettles has been used by commas in the past and it is good to know it remains a suitable egg laying site for them.
comma butterfly
comma butterfly egg on nettle leaf
Today a brimstone butterfly paid another fleeting visit, but a peacock stayed much longer nectaring on a flowering currant.
peacock nectaring on ribes