Look After Our Butterflies

Their numbers are alarmingly down but all gardeners can give them a helping hand

Two years ago, in the annual summer butterfly survey carried out by Butterfly Conservation, numbers were down, alarmingly in some cases by as much as 50 percent. A few species showed a small increase but overall the trend was very worrying. In the garden here at Glebe Cottage there have been more butterfly visitors than usual but not in the numbers we used to see in the surrounding countryside when first we came.

Needless to say, we do whatever we can in our garden to cater for pollinating insects of every kind, including butterflies. They need nectar to provide the energy to flitter and flutter and to lay the eggs needed for the next generation.