A glorious mess

ICONCUR that the weather has been against our butterfly population (Leader and letters, September 28), but paved gardens could also be interrupting the breeding stage. Just leaving a patch of nettles in a corner gives many species such as the peacock and red admiral the ideal egg-laying and caterpillar food-plant environment. Lack of time this year left me with an uncharacteristically untidy garden, but the bonus of a host of butterflies. Even on dull, drizzly days, when the more colourful species have not been in flight, the cheerful meadow brown has been regularly busy. Perhaps the answer to John Reeves’s question lies in not being too tidy. Linda Bos, West Sussex