National Brimstone Lift-off Hour
Lepidopterist and friend of Encounter Matthew Oates has news of a joyful event coming to a park, garden or meadow near you
Lunchtime today is very likely to be National Brimstone Lift-off Hour. This is when our yellow brimstone butterflies take to the air, after six arduous months in hibernation. The brimstone is, of course, the original ‘butter-coloured fly’, and the source of our word ‘butterfly’.
Only the male, pictured above, is golden. The female is a pale lemon colour, but she is likely to remain in hibernation a day or two longer. The amorous males will, though, seek out the still-abed females, in tangles of bramble or ivy, dense grass tussocks or in holly bushes. Male butterflies are not well-behaved.
At this time of year, brimstones may only be active for about an hour and a half, from about high noon. They will feed hungrily from early flowers, such as dandelions and primroses, before wandering on. They settle only with their wings folded.
You can see Brimstone Lift-off Hour coming, as the build-up to it includes a mass bumblebee take-off and a ladybird-lift off. Watch out too for early hoverflies – the drone flies which mimic honeybees, and the marmalade hoverfly.
Legend has it that if your first butterfly of the year is yellow you will have a happy summer. So keep your eyes peeled!
Matthew Oates is the author of (among many other things) The Butterfly Spotter’s Guide (National Trust Books, 2025), the ultimate beginner’s guide to our butterflies (plus some moths).
