How to... bring in the butterflies

THERE are still plenty of white butterflies around, plus newly emerged red admirals and painted ladies. Find them feeding on juices in over-ripe pears, plums and apples.

Top up grub

Holly blue butterflies feed on ivy flowers and a meadow will be a magnet to large and small skippers and meadow browns. You can also give them honey-soaked cotton wool in saucers in the garden.

Fuel stations

In a sheltered, sunny, well-draining border, grow the fashionable Verbena bonariensis. It is a willowy, tall perennial with bare wand-like stems topped tiny lavender-blue lightly fragrant flowers. They are nectar-rich, making them great service stations where butterflies can refuel.

Moth magic

TO prevent the string on your grass trimmer from

with jamming, spray it vegetable oil before putting it in the

machine.

At dusk, you may see night-flying moths such as the fluffy white yellow tail and the cream-coloured swallow-tailed moth.

Or look out for yellow brimstone and the spectacular garden tiger, whose furry caterpillars are known as woolly bears. Garden tigers overwinter as caterpillars but be warned – if you pick one up, the hairs will irritate your skin.

Flutter shuteye

If you have ever wondered what happens to those lovely butterflies in winter, check the dusty corners in your house or shed. Occasionally tortoiseshell butterflies come indoors to hibernate.

Rise and shine

A sudden warm spell, or central heating, may wake them. If this happens, or you find a bumblebee that has woken from its winter snooze, put it in a cool place and leave food such as a crushed apple or plum nearby to re-energise it.