Last?

This could be my last butterfly of the year – and a wonderful surprise it was. I was sauntering home from the shops when I spotted him, a fine Speckled Wood looking remarkably fresh and velvety, basking on the ivy. He wasn't exactly bursting with energy – well, it is mid-November – but he had enough to fly from one sunny spot to the next, settling each time with wings open to absorb the unseasonally warm sunshine.
  It's cheering to reflect that this beautiful butterfly – which in my boyhood was a summer flier, pretty much restricted to the the kind of sun-dappled woodland that so perfectly matches its wing markings – now turns up practically anywhere, and at almost any time of year. A good news story from the butterfly world.