General Chat

Many of us have gardens or access to parks or open spaces.

Maybe you will consider taking part in the count to see whether the cold Spring weather has affected butterfly numbers.

https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/

Thanks for the link Gwyn. :-)

I haven't got much in my garden at the moment - even the weed count is quite small, considering I've done no weeding. Lots of very long grasses, though.
However, I did see a brimstone in March. :-D

The link is now on my 'bookmarks' :-D

I've only seen one butterfly in my garden so far this year, which is a worry.

Thanks for the link, Gwyn :-)

There were at least 6 when I was out in the garden earlier and that was without really looking :-)

I spoke too soon. I've just seen two cabbage whites in the street - they can stay there!

A lot of people in a group I'm in haven't seen any yet and say t's likely the spring weather slowed down the butterfly reproduction.

I've seen more butterflies today than I have in all the months of this Spring and summer.

I’ve only seen a couple of whites in my back garden, but as there are no flowers and very few weeds, that’s not surprising. However, along the back, I have a 2ft high wall, about 30ft long which holds up, a 5ft wide bank, sloping upwards, then the (behind) neighbour’s fence that has a concrete base, but with many trees behind it.
This bank is covered in very long grass, a clump of wild strawberries and an overgrown box plant between me and my left hand neighbours – which they’d love to be removed (me too – I’ve hacked it down once, but it’s grown back) and replaced with honeysuckle or a clematis.

When the bank is wet enough, I intend digging it over, and, in the autumn/spring, covering it with butterfly /bee friendly wild flowers. The comparison next year could be interesting!

There is, however one problem. When my other neighbour had her son remove a pampas grass off her bank, they noticed a gap in the (wooden) fence behind it, and a worn patch, that went under our (very low wooden) dividing fence onto my bank. Then a sleepy hedgehog head appeared in the gap, as if to ask ‘What’s going on here?’, and went back again. It looks like I’ll have to wait until the Autumn to dig the bank over.
:-)