Who can fail to be enchanted by the delicate, exquisite beauty of these ephemeral creatures? As a child I can remember the Buddleia tree in our small suburban garden covered in a glittering array, with every raceme sporting one or more of these jewel like species: Red admirals, Peacocks, Small tortoiseshells, Commas, Painted ladies and many more. I took them for granted then, butterflies were not a rarity, nor in decline in my childhood. Now, as I walk around our field to record butterflies as part of the Big Butterfly Count, I stare wistfully at the Buddleias, longing to see them adorned as they were in my youth. My eleven year old self would have been very surprised and saddened by the decline of what was once such an abundant creature. Our world would be a much poorer and less beautiful place without them, yet we persist in our habitat destruction and the use of pesticides, thereby accelerating their already alarming decline, risking them becoming a mere memory of fleeting beauty in times past
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In our small way, we have tried to help the butterfly population in our field by providing as much as we can by way of food plants for their caterpillars. For instance leaving large swathes of stinging nettles untouched – an important food plant for many species of butterfly, along with thistles, docks and other plants commonly thought of as weeds but which are in fact vital to support these and many other insects. We have also planted many Buddleia and wildflowers around the field as well as growing lots of butterfly and bee friendly flowers in our garden.
So far this year we have recorded the following species of butterflies in our field:
Small white; Large white; Red Admiral; Meadow brown; Green veined white; Peacock; Comma; Speckled wood; Ringlet; Silver washed fritillary; Holly blue; Gatekeeper; Common blue; Brimstone; Orange tip; Small tortoiseshell; Painted lady.
Never Mind the Bullocks 
Oh, you’re so right. Yesterday I was walking and noticed one single butterfly, and suddenly childhood memories flooded my mind, “Where are the others?” there’s never just one! There is so much to think about in our world that I haven’t considered that butterflies need our help.. They are a favorite of mine and I will look into how I can support protecting them.. Thank you for your post.. have a nice weekend, Efrona
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Thank you Efrona for your lovely comment. It’s great to hear that you would like to help protect butterflies. It’s surprising what can be achieved if we all try to do something, however small. Have a lovely weekend too.
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