Butterflies can present some fluttery surprises! Far from being sedentary, individuals can travel over huge distances and in some cases across several countries. This is due to their caterpillars feeding on just 1 or 2 special food plant species, which the adults must search for each year: energy-rich nectar helps sustain them on this quest.
Adults either migrate south in winter or hibernate, while overwintering caterpillars enter pupation. A well prepared garden can cater for up to 20 common species of butterfly in a year with the right butterfly-friendly features.
| Did you know ? | The pupae of many butterflies and moths, have evolved to mimic a tasty seed - the ants take this into their nest and guard it until the adult hatches! |
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Good garden nectar plants for butterflies include:
| Spring | cuckooflower, grape hyacinth, bluebell, celandine, primrose, heathers, hedge mustard, crocus, Aubretia, violets, pussy willow, honesty, yellow archangel, yellow alyssum, red deadnettle. |
| Summer | everything! Especially oxeye daisy, marjoram, sweet rocket, knapweeds, lavender, candytuft, marigolds, bramble, Nasturtiums. |
| Autumn | Buddleias (deadhead, or plant different varieties, to prolong blooms), Hebe, Ice plant/Sedum (but not 'Autumn Joy'), michaelmas daisy, black-eyed Susan, heliotrope, tobacco plant. |
| Butterflies also feed on root sap, tree trunks, honeydew, sweat, carrion, dung, ripe fruit, cuckoo spit, wine ! Leave some windfall fruit for them. | Did you know ? |
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Small tortoiseshell, comma, peacock, brimstone, and a few red admirals are the only adult butterflies that overwinter in the UK, and several Blues and Browns spend the winter as
pupae. They need somewhere cool and dry - outhouses, sheds, and garages are ideal - leave small gaps for access. Untreated patches of wooden fence and odd wall crevices are also useful. Woodpiles and ivy are the bees' (or butterflies') knees for a more natural option! Leave small areas of long grass and seed-heads wherever possible, these are essential overwintering sites for several grass-feeding species
Few butterflies will breed in the garden unless you make deliberate efforts to encourage them. Caterpillars are specialised to feed on host plants including:
Honesty, hedge mustard, cuckooflower - green-veined and other whites, orange tip
Stinging nettle - small tortoiseshell, red admiral, peacock comma, painted lady
Grasses : timothy, cock's foot, Yorkshire fog - skippers and browns, marbled white, speckled wood
Holly (female - with berries) and ivy - holly blue
Restharrow, vetch, clovers, bird's foot trefoil - other blues, clouded yellow, green hairstreak Purging and alder buckthorns - brimstone
Docks, knotgrass - small copper
Buddleia, named after botanist Adam Buddle, is well known as the 'butterfly bush'. However, an even more effective butterfly attractor is the stinging nettle - the host plant for 4 of our breeding butterfly species, and a whole community of other specialist nettle-living minibeasts
Why not try turning some of your lawn into a purpose-grown meadow. In a sunny sheltered spot, create areas of:
1. very short turf, with bird's foot trefoil
2. shortish turf, with thyme, cuckooflower, clovers, Primrose,
3. summer meadow, with a mix of long, medium and short grasses, knapweeds, oxeye daisy, marigolds, scabious and clovers. Cut twice a year to 5cm in June and again in autumn when flowering is over. Leave cuttings for 2 days, then rake them up. Leave some banks uncut. Vary mown and unmown sections from year to year.
Make sure that Buddleias, ivy, woodpiles, nettles and other butterfly favourites are nearby
A patch of coarse-leaved and soft grasses, and a nettle bed will provide all that is needed for the most common species. Solutions to stop them taking over the garden include: