The small white butterfly enjoyed its best summer for very many years. However the one I spotted on October 29 just before the St Jude gale struck was an exceptionally late record.

The species does not hibernate but spends the winter in the chrysalis stage ready to emerge next April. Yet my sighting of a red admiral in my garden (pictured) on February 4 was not so extraordinary. Thirty years ago maybe, as few red admirals overwintered in Britain then but nowadays this is quite a common occurence.

A problem arises if they venture out on a mild sunny winter's day as they may not find a suitable alternative hibernation site to protect them during the cold months.

Many red admirals attempt a trip to France or beyond in autumn to escape our winter and they can sometimes be seen flying fast in an unwavering southerly direction a metre or so above ground over open spaces such as Richmond Park.

The painted lady butterfly that sometimes arrives in large numbers, but not this year, did not at one time hibernate either in our cold wet winters but in recent years, no doubt due to climate change. They are increasingly seen in early spring having tucked themselves up in hollow trees on in barns and outhouses.

Only recently has it been discovered that some painted ladies also attempt to fly south in autumn but unlike red admirals they travel at some height, invisible from the ground.

On the subject of climate change, it was interesting to note while watching the service from the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday that trees lining Whitehall were still, apart from the odd falling leaf, virtually fully leaved whereas thirty yeras ago, those same trees would have been bare on that day.