Eco Friendly House And Garden

During the bright sunny weather - there are butterflies everywhere!

But what are they all called, and why does it matter?  Well, it matters because butterflies are very specific feeders and so can tell us what the health of certain plants is like - and therefore which habitats are disappearing and which ones a expanding.  And this information is vital to biodiversity and conservation.

So - how many butterflies can you identify?  Which plants have you introduced or encouraged in your garden to attract butterflies?

Well, now is your chance to learn a few more and actually use this new information to help a national survey tell us about our changing environments.

The Survey:
The Butterfly Conservation Trust and Marks & Spencer have got together to organise a very simple sample survey of your local butterflies.

Basically, all they want you to do is tally up all the butterfly species you see in your garden or on a walk in just 15 minutes.

No need to learn a billion species or any rare butterflies - just the common and most widespread species in the UK.

They have even produced a fantastic, clear and comprehensive visual identification guide to around 15 butterflies - showing both upper and lower wing patterns.  They couldn’t have made it any easier!

So could you spare a few minutes now looking through the species guide and then 15 minutes at the end of July to tally them up?  A pair of binoculars wouldn’t be a bad idea either!

Why Butterflies?
Well, butterflies are very obvious in the environment.  They don’t try to hide - infact they brandish their wings to the sun; they come out during the brightest, clearest days and they are usually brightly coloured too - with some quite striking patterns.

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

This means that it would be a lot easier that trying to spot night-flying moths or small mammals etc!

As mentioned before, they only feed on certain plants and only lay their eggs on certain other plants, so you can be very sure that where there are White Admirals there will be Honeysuckle and where there are Silver-Washed Fritillary there will be Dog Violet.

Therefore if there certain plant species dying off or becoming more abundant due to land-use changes or differing weather patterns - the butterflies will have to change their local habitat to make sure they and their young can feed.

And this is where the survey can tell the specialist and awful lot!  The information for just our garden might not really tell us anything - but add that up between all the survey results and the picture will become much clearer.

So the more people who can spare 15 minutes of their time - the more definitive the results will be, and the more action can be taken to make sure we don’t lose butterflies from our gardens - and don’t lose entire habitats because we didn’t care to look!

So, go get your suncream and a pen!

Take a trip to RHS Wisley in the UK for an amazing butterfly experience - you won’t forget it!

RHS Wisley is one of the largest gardens in the UK - with an absolutely huge temperate and tropical glasshouse - and they are going to fill it with butterflies!

I have visited many smaller scale butterfly houses when abroad - but this is on the scale of something magnificent - and will have species from all over the globe including the absolutely huge Blue Morpho butterfly from Central and South America which can reach up to 8 inches across!

Native UK species don’t grow quite that big and none are irridescent blue - but we do have some very colourful and delicate species that you can attract right into your garden like the bright yellow Brimstones, the highly decorative orange and black Marsh Frittilaries, tiny blue Hairstreaks and the huge black and white Swallowtails with a wingspan of over 3 inches!  

So, all you need to attract some into your own garden, are the right garden plants - and help is at hand.

Butterfly Conservation, UK:
This UK based charity are the best source of information on butterflies you can get for native species - and their president is none other than the great Sir David Attenborough.

Members of the Society are going to be at Wisley in the glasshouses to help you identify the different species in the display - but also those that you find in your gardens year after year - or want to find in your garden from now on!

There will be information boards all around the site helping you to identify the essential plants that butterflies need as adults, but also as caterpillars.

Why Butterflies?
Many people forget that caterpillars are a huge food source for many of our garden wild birds - such as blue tits and robins - and that the more adult butterflies you attract to your garden through the year - the more birds their offspring can feed keeping you garden filled with life at all times.

Also, butterflies are an important pollinater for plants too and they are the second largest pollinaters after bees.  Plants such as sunflowers, asters and daisies all depend on butterflies to create seeds - and they are in the second largest group of plants on Earth, so it’s an important link.  And a key one if you want your plants to set strong seeds and spread across your gardens.

Visiting this one off spectacle could be the spark that generates a keen interest in butterflies and back gardens in yourself or your children - and could really make a difference to struggling species in your area.

After all it is the International Year of Biodiversity - so why not get things started with a great day out!

Details:
RHS Wisley is in Surrey, England and is open all year round as one of the UK’s largest public gardens, with woodlands, water features, flower-filled avenues, sculptures, a library, and a huge garden centre. 

The butterfly display is on now until the 28th of February 2010 and is free as part of the normal entrance fee.  Children under 6 are free, and pre-booked groups get a discount - so make sure you take the whole family with you - and some friends thrown in.  Get everyone involved.