Day 056/19. At last......insects for my macro.

The early spring sunshine has brought a few butterflies around our garden today. I managed to get this Comma sitting enjoying the heat on a rock at lunchtime today.
This butterfly was once widespread over most of England and Wales, and parts of southern Scotland, but by the middle of the 1800s had suffered a severe decline that left it confined to the Welsh border counties. It is thought that the decline may have been due to a reduction in Hop farming, a key larval foodplant at the time.
Since the 1960s this butterfly has made a spectacular comeback, with a preference for Common Nettle as the larval foodplant, and it is now found throughout England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands and has recently reached Scotland.
Tough little critter.