Place in the garden to provide summer shelter and winter roosting for many kinds of butterfly, vital for plant pollination.

WHY DO I WANT BUTTERFLIES IN MY GARDEN?

• Butterflies are voracious pollinators of plants.
• Butterflies are safe around Children & Pets
• Butterfly numbers decline year on year and need encouraging into new habitats.

Because Butterflies are virtually dependent on plants they are particularly susceptible to change in the local environment. Erosion of their natural habitats through instances such as the shift in modern farming practises, has impacted greatly on them, so it has become essential to create new habitats in which they can thrive.

We can all do this in our own gardens by firstly leaving a corner to ‘go wild’ and secondly growing plants rich in nectar, the vital foodstuff of the butterfly. Perfect plants for this are alyssum, budleia, phlox and wallflowers. Butterflies also need ideal plants on which to lay eggs, so in our ‘wild area’ we need to leave, what are traditionally considered to be weeds, such as nettles and dandelions. Although Butterflies are associated almost entirely with feeding on nectar they will also feed on items as diverse as rotten fruit to animal faeces - we don’t recommend using this as an attractant on your feeder.

The Growing Success Butterfly feeder has been designed, simply put, to attract butterflies into the garden. The colour has been scientifically proved to be of the greatest attraction, and by mixing up a small amount of sugar with water and applying it to the sponge shelf, the attractiveness of the feeder is increased. Once in your garden the Butterflies will explore the plants there and you will find that if they are to their liking, they will stay.

The feeder should be hung far enough away from accommodation so that any wasps attracted do not keep entering your home, but close enough for you to enjoy observing the butterflies. It is a good idea to hang the feeder in a sheltered place that is exposed to the sun in the late afternoon and evening (although Butterflies like the sun they need shade when the sun is at its hottest).

We have also developed a Lodge for Butterflies to inhabit. The 'Boudoir' should be sited about three feet above the ground in a sheltered position that is exposed to sun in late afternoon/early evening - although Butterflies like sunny conditions they avoid the intense heat of mid-day. The entry holes should be facing away from the prevailing weather conditions with the dowling rod (supplied with the box) left inside as a 'perch' for the occupants. You will find that many butterflies will use the lodge as a 'roost' during the warmer months of the year and several species may well over winter in it.

Butterfly or Moth?

A commonly asked question is the difference between Butterflies and Moths. There are several.

It is a pretty safe bet that if you see a butterfly during daylight then it is a butterfly, if you see one at night then it is, in fact, a moth. Apart from this pretty major difference, there are a few physical characteristics that help tell the two apart; Moths have fatter, hairier bodies, their antenna are thicker and feathery and when they are at rest their wings are either spread open or folded into the body, as opposed to Butterfly wings which are folded upwards when resting.

A Butterfly’s Life

Butterflies develop via metamorphosis, in other words they change completely from one thing into another.

Once two adults have mated, the female lays her eggs onto a plant, usually the food plant which the larva will eat. Generally the eggs are attached to the underside of a leaf, but some butterflies utilise the flower head or even crevices in bark. Somewhere between 20 and 500 eggs can be laid by a single female and depending on species the eggs can be single, clustered or in a large mass. On rare occasions certain Butterflies scatter eggs over grassland whilst in flight.

When the egg hatches the larva, commonly called a Caterpillar, emerges. They eat voraciously but very particularly, sticking mainly to the consumption of a single plant type. The skin of the larva does not stretch so as the caterpillar grows it literally bursts out of it’s skin to reveal a new one. This happens up to five times before full growth is achieved.

The final moult results in the end of larval life and sees the change into a pupa, or as it is popularly known, chrysalis. Because of it’s immobility the pupa is highly vulnerable to attack from predators, so attempts to either conceal itself by camouflage or to protect itself by encasing itself in a silk cocoon. The emergence of the Butterfly is signalled by a change in appearance of the chrysalis which becomes almost transparent.

Upon ‘birth’ the Butterfly is able to move it’s wings but has to wait about 30 minutes for said wings to dry before being able to fly. Life expectancy of the Butterfly varies between species but on average is between 2 and 4 weeks. Having fed, their first instinct is to mate which begins the cycle over again. Research suggests that Butterflies, due in no small part to their rather short life, tend to be territorial so once enticed into your garden, you should be able to enjoy their beauty year after year.

Britain is home to 58 species of Butterfly, listed below:

• Adonis Blue
• Black Hairstreak
• Brimstone
• Brown Argus
• Brown Hairstreak
• Chalkhill Blue
• Chequered Skipper
• Clouded Yellow
• Comma
• Common Blue
• Dark Green Fritillary
• Dingy Skipper
• Duke of Burgundy
• Essex Skipper
• Gatekeeper
• Glanville Fritillary
• Grayling
• Green Hairstreak
• Green-veined White
• Grizzled Skipper
• Heath Fritillary
• High Brown Fritillary
• Holly Blue
• Large Blue
• Large Heath
• Large Skipper
• Large White
• Lulworth Skipper
• Marbled White
• Marsh Fritillary
• Meadow Brown
• Mountain Ringlet
• Northern Brown Argus
• Orange Tip
• Painted Lady
• Peacock
• Pearl-bordered Fritillary
• Purple Emperor
• Purple Hairstreak
• Red Admiral
• Ringlet
• Scotch Argus
• Silver-spotted Skipper
• Silver-studded Blue
• Silver-washed Fritillary
• Small Blue
• Small Copper
• Small Heath
• Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary
• Small Skipper
• Small Tortoiseshell
• Small White
• Speckled Wood
• Swallowtail
• Wall
• White Admiral
• White-letter Hairstreak
• Wood White