Unseasonably warm winter weather and abundant rainfall in the forests around Bryansk have awakened the common brimstone butterfly (conepteryx rhamni) from hibernation months ahead of schedule, the Bryansky Les nature preserve said in a statement.
“Hibernating brimstones awoke (in January) because of warm weather and began to emerge from their cocoons, which in turn attracted the attention of birds such as tomtits and common jay birds," the statement said. "Fortunately for the butterflies, the temperature has dropped back below zero and they have resumed hibernating.”
Bryansky Les, founded in July 1987, is situated on the Nerussa and the Desna rivers on the northwestern edge of the Central Russian Upland. It is an old-growth forest preserve typical of Russian woodlands.
