This week sees the start of Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count, running from Friday 14th July 2023 until Sunday 6th August. During this time, we are asked to watch for butterflies and day flying moths for just 15 minutes in our garden, park or on a walk. The count can be added to Butterfly Conservation's website or app to give valuable data on the state of our nation's butterflies.
There has never been a more important time to monitor these wonderful creatures. Overall, the trend for butterflies across the UK is of decline, with the results of the Big Butterfly Count 2022 showing an average of just under 9 butterflies seen per count. This was an all-time low in the thirteen years since the citizen science project began. Butterfly Consevartion's 2022 report The State of the UK's Butterflies states that 'in the UK, long-term trends show that 80% of butterfly species have decreased in abundance or distribution, or both since the 1970s.' England’s butterflies have fared particularly badly, with an overall decrease of 45% since 1976.
There was however some good news in 2022. The gatekeeper, common blue and holly blue all fared well, bouncing back from lows the previous year. Another winner for the 2022 count was the comma, a distinctive species often found in gardens, that saw an increase of 95% compared with last year. The comma has been making a slow comeback from its low point in the 1910s and is expanding its range rapidly northwards.
There is also reason to be hopeful in the increased interest in how we can help butterflies in our own gardens. Planting nectar rich flowers is the most obvious way to boost butterfly numbers in your garden. Some of the most popular summer flowers are buddleia, Verbena bonariensis, lavender and marjoram. And don't forget some earlier and later flowering plants for those butterflies that emerge early or survive late into the autumn. You can get some ideas for prolonging the flowering season in this handy list. Winter shelter for butterflies that overwinter, in plants such as ivy, is also a factor to consider.
Peacock butterfly Aglais io, adult basking and feeding on buddleia in a garden
Matt Wilkinson (rspb-images.com)
Important as these nectar rich flowers may be, it is vital to think of the whole life cycle when considering how to help butterflies. While just about any flower can be a nectar filled treat for butterflies, the story is a bit more complex with caterpillar food. In fact, most species have quite a short list of host plants. Often this is because caterpillars need particular chemicals from that plant to bring out their warning colouration as butterflies. For example, common bird's-foot-trefoil is an important foodplant for the caterpillars of the common blue, silver-studded blue and wood white butterflies. The foodplants of holly blue caterpillars are mainly holly (for the spring generation) and ivy (for the summer generation). And the stinging nettle is a vital food source for comma, painted lady, red admiral and peacock caterpillars. So although stinging nettles may not be the most attractive or practical plants to encourage in your garden, a patch in a corner where they won't be too much of a nuisance to people walking past, or to flowers and vegetables you're trying to grow, will do wonders for a wide range of caterpillars, and therefore butterflies. We need to learn to love the stinging nettle!
Butterflies will be one of the themes for Flatford Wildlife Garden's summer holiday activities. From 29th July -4th August, children can spot butterflies in the garden, follow the trail to learn all about them and then make their own fluttering butterfly to fly! Cost is £2 per child. This is just one of many activities for children at the garden over the summer. For further details see the garden's events page or Facebook page.