Creating a butterfly-friendly garden is a wonderful way to help these beautiful creatures. Butterflies need special places to live. By growing the right plants, we can give them a good home.
Butterflies like plants with flowers. Flowers have nectar, which is like food for butterflies. Try planting flowers like marigolds, sunflowers, and lavender. These flowers give butterflies the energy to fly.
If planting flowers for moths and other wildlife, learn how to create a safe garden for pets (many flowers and other items are unsafe near animal friends). Also ensure ponds have sloping sides to avoid drowning and avoid netting, which can tangle birds and wildlife.
Butterflies also need a safe place to lay their eggs. Caterpillars eat the leaves of certain plants. You can grow plants like milkweed, fennel, and nettles. These plants help caterpillars grow strong and healthy.
Remember, butterflies love warm and sunny spots. Make sure your garden has sunny areas where butterflies can rest and enjoy the warmth. It is also good to have some big stones where butterflies can sit.
Water is important too. Butterflies drink water, so a small dish with water is helpful. You can put stones in the dish, so butterflies can land and drink safely.
Avoid using chemicals in your garden. Some sprays can hurt butterflies. Choose natural ways to keep your plants healthy instead. Chemicals used by farmers to grow sugar beet are thought to be a main reason in the decline of butterfly populations. So grow organically (ladybirds eat aphids).
By creating a butterfly-friendly garden, you invite more butterflies to visit. It is a simple way to help these lovely creatures flourish. Would you like to see more butterflies in your garden? Give it a try and watch them enjoy their new home.
How to Help an Injured Butterfly or Moth
It’s good to leave windows ajar in spring, to let butterflies and moths escape, if they accidentally fly into your home.
If you spot an injured butterfly or moth, you may be able to help it, but be careful, as even touching a butterfly’s wings can damage them (even oil transferred from our hands could weigh the creature down).
If wished, you could use a piece of paper to gently move the injured creature to a box with air holes, adding a few leaves for comfort and to keep it safe. Next, offer some sugar water. Mix a tiny bit of sugar with water.
Then, put a few drops on a spoon, and place it close to the butterfly’s mouth. Keep the box in a quiet place. Avoid direct sunlight, as it can get too hot. Check the box now and then to see how the butterfly or moth is doing.
If it improves, you can let it go outside. Choose a calm spot with flowers. This will give it a chance to find food and shelter. If the butterfly or moth does not get better, don’t worry. Sometimes, they cannot heal on their own. You have done your best by giving it care and comfort.
Why Moths Matter (and how to protect them)
Moths are often over-shadowed by butterflies, but are just as beautiful and as important for ecosystems and pollination. Moths are nocturnal so you are less likely to see them, but these are the creatures (along with bats) that pollinate flowers at night, when butterflies are fast asleep! This is important, as night-blooming flowers need wide-awake pollinators!
Moths are also a vital food source for many birds, bats and other insects, so form an important part of the food chain. Just like there would be no owls without rats, without moths there would not be many of our favourite garden birds.
There are thousands of species of moths worldwide, adapting to all climates from forests to deserts. But here in England you’ll likely find them in gardens at night, or often as ‘crawling caterpillars’ on the ground, while they take a few weeks to become flying moths.
Most adult moths look a bit like tree bark and leaves, so they can easily hide from predators. Other hazards are garden chemicals, climate change and deforestation.
Like many nocturnal creatures, they rely on the moon and stars to navigate, which is why light pollution has negative effects (orange-hued lampposts help to prevent insects crashing into light in their millions, which is why happens with blue-hued lights).
Keep Away from Oak Processionary Moths
These accidentally came to England from mainland Europe, and have a protein that can cause allergic reactions and breathing difficulties.
Keep humans and pets away from grey/white caterpillars (which can detach hairs in spent nests and on the ground) and contact a doctor/vet if in contact. Cordon off infested oak trees from livestock and horses (oak/yew trees are toxic to horses).
Mostly found in the London area in spring/summer, report any you see to your council and Treealert.
How to Prevent Mothballs, Naturally
The only moths likely to cause issues are clothes moths (that eat wool, feather and fur). So if you don’t wear animal fibres, your wardrobe won’t get mothballs. To reduce risk, deep-clean and vacuum places with stored clothes (in sealed bags). If used for prevention, keep red cedar balls away from pets and children.
The Little Book of Butterflies is extensively detailed book with gorgeous design and illustrations and colour photos. Covering anatomy, diversity, habitat and conservation, it also covers different types of butterflies across the world, along with life history of a butterfly, from egg to caterpillar, and from chrysalis to butterfly. It’s co-authored by two experts in butterflies and natural history.
