So Many Perfect Days For Our Friends, The Butterflies

Let’s Talk nature writer Barry Madden has been enjoying what has turned out to be a fantastic year for something we all have in our gardens ... butterflies.

- Barry Madden

WHAT A FANTASTIC YEAR it has been for butterflies. The extended period of dry, warm weather during spring followed by a pretty good summer has produced large numbers of our more common species which have delighted us in gardens, parks and the wider countryside.

My own garden has produced 16 species so far, with holly blues and the whites doing very well feeding on the profusion of nectar-bearing flowers, particularly patches of bramble blossom that decorate the hedgerow. I’ve even been visited by a wonderful silver-washed fritillary that briefly basked in the dappled sunlight of the ‘woodland edge’.

This bucking of the general trend has been most welcome, because butterflies have been taking a beating over the past few decades with numbers of many species much reduced. It’s all been quite depressing, with the survival of several, including our very own swallowtail population, heavily reliant on intensive management of remaining fragmented habitat and/or ongoing reintroductions.

To counter the general gloom, there have happily been several gains over the past 20 years, probably driven by our subtly changing climate. For example, species such as the aforementioned silver-washed fritillary has returned to brighten up our woodlands, white admirals have become widespread while speckled wood, Essex skipper and brown argus have dramatically increased their range and abundance. To cap it all the purple emperor has returned. Things could be looking up.