Not only are butterflies some of our most beautiful invertebrates, they are critically important to our ecosystem, both as pollinators of plants and as food for other species.
There are more than fifty indigenous species of butterfly found in the UK (and many more occasional foreign visitors) but, depending on exactly where you live and the time of year, the ten you’re most likely to see in your garden are probably the brimstone, comma, small cabbage white, large cabbage white, green-veined white, meadow brown, painted lady, peacock, red admiral and the small tortoiseshell.
They prefer bright and warm weather (you’re very unlikely to see them when it’s raining), so look out for them in your garden on sunny days from late spring through to the early autumn.
Sadly, more than three-quarters of Britain’s butterfly species have declined in the last forty years. Some of those declines are understood and linked to loss of habitat, but others have yet to be explained and highlight a worrying trend for our insect population generally.
Similar to the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch in late winter, Butterfly Conservation runs the Big Butterfly Count every summer, between July and August. It’s another invaluable ‘citizen science’ project, designed to assess the health of our butterfly population, so be sure to take part.
You can do even more for butterfly conservation by creating the right environment in your garden, particularly by planting flowering shrubs and plants. By choosing species that flower at different times of the year you can ensure a constant food supply over many months. Your local garden centre will be able to give you specialist advice and the Royal Horticultural Society publishes a list of plants that they recommend specifically to attract butterflies, and, just as importantly, to provide protection for their caterpillars.
As well as flower nectar, butterflies love eating sweet, soft fruits like bananas, brown apples and strawberries. Towards the end of summer and into autumn, when there are fewer flowers in bloom, leave plates of sliced fruits in your garden to give them a welcome sugar boost.