It’s only just April and already we have had three different species of Butterflies in the garden, Speckled Wood, Red Admirals, and yesterday a female Holly Blue. The latter is pictured above, this is a female. Again, this is a species that we have had in the garden before, in fact they are not in the least bit rare, but they fluctuate from year to year due to a parasitic wasp that lays it’s egg on the butterfly pupa. The egg of the wasp hatches and eats the Butterfly caterpillar. What happens then is a proliferation of the wasp but no butterfly caterpillars to lay it’s eggs on, and then the Holly Blue is free to increase it’s numbers until the cycle is repeated. It looks as though 2011 is going to be a good “Holly Blue” year.