Create a haven for butterflies

Any garden or allotment can become more insect-friendly with a bit of thought and care

Remember much about the summer of 2017? Me neither, which may say something about the sort of summer it was (and, perhaps, about my memory, too). Weather-wise, it wasn’t the best, except for a spell of good June weather. And, according to Britain’s longest-running butterfly survey, it wasn’t good for the nation’s butterflies either.

Many species suffered. For example, the survey’s volunteers reported far fewer large whites (the cabbage white) than in 2016.

Or to be more precise, large whites were seen in 42 per cent fewer survey squares than in the previous year. That’s because the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) measures distribution, rather than numbers.

It’s wrong to read too much into a single year’s figures because populations yo-yo up and down from one year to another. If there’s enough suitable habitat, a good summer can see numbers hit records.

So, it’s the survey’s long-term trends that matter. For a few species the long-term trend is positive. Take the beautiful clouded yellow. It’s four times more common than it was a decade ago, while garden species such as red admiral (plus 106 per cent) and small tortoiseshell (plus 84 per cent) are on the up and up, too.

We can’t do anything about the vagaries of the weather, but we can get to grips with the loss of butterfly habitat. Nature reserves have been created to keep rarer species safe, while landowners can be encouraged to make the wider countryside more butterflyfriendly as well. That’s a job for the experts. But gardeners can help by doing something similar for more widespread garden species.

With thought and care any garden can become a butterfly haven. If every garden, and every allotment, were that bit more butterfly-friendly, then good years would be even better, and the blow of a poor year would be cushioned just a little.