Forum home› Wildlife gardening
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

A dearth of flutter-butters

ieccles651_nmUKAC-ieccles651_nmUKAC- Posts: 31
in Wildlife gardening
My Buddleia is in it's pomp but no butterflies, where have they gone?
«1345

Posts

  • Fran IOMFran IOM Posts: 2,872
    I was thinking exactly the same thing yesterday! Plenty of purple flowers and not a butterfly in sight. 🦋
  • AstraeusAstraeus Posts: 336
    We've had a terrific week here for butterflies.

    Enjoying the purple loosestrife, verbena and the very last of the candelabra primulas. Mainly the cabbage white, of course, but also plenty of admirals and the odd orange tip.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I was just thinking yesterday what a lot of butterflies we have in the garden … mainly on the verbenas and centaureas … and some are loving the areas flowering grasses where we’ve left some areas unmown. Lots of large and small whites of course, but earlier on we had peacocks, tortoiseshells and red admirals and of little blues and now meadow browns on the grass. 

    We have a buddleja but it doesn’t get full sun until mid afternoon … then the butterflies are all over it. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I was just looking at the garden yesterday afternoon and I too was surprised at the number of butterflies.
    Mostly Cabbage Whites but also Red Admiral, Peacock and a few others I'm not sure about

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • REMF33REMF33 Posts: 731
    I certainly seem to have less variety than usual, and possibly altogether. Lots of cabbage white types, and some tiny brown and orange ones (moths? Not been able to identify yet) but not the usual gatekeepers, comas, red admirals and painted ladies I have here in London. I did have quite a few red admirals in spring. I realized that I have fewer than I had previously realized as I decided to do an insect 'photoshoot', and only found bees. I have only attempted this twice so should try it again. The bees are really loving my Allium sphaerocephalon!
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    I am getting gatekeepers at the moment and some whites fluttering around and a single comma , but not as many as expected this time of year.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Loads of butterflies here and a good variety. There's massive amounts of meadow brown and ringlet locally, but I've seen lots of skippers this year as well.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • ieccles651_nmUKAC-ieccles651_nmUKAC- Posts: 31
    Thanks everyone for your response, obviously it's regional.
    It's now lunchtime and not a flutter to be seen and I promise I have paid my Council Tax.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    It may be too hot for them to fly out in the open at the moment. I was seeing a lot more later in the afternoon yesterday and even then it was in a shadier part of the woods https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/24/scientists-take-temperatures-of-butterflies-to-uncover-climate-threat
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • ieccles651_nmUKAC-ieccles651_nmUKAC- Posts: 31
    It's not temperature related because I have only seen one or two this year.
    I live in a small village in the North West, I am in a rural setting and the canal is just down the road.
    I have all the ingredients for a squadron of flutters to fly into my garden, it's not just my garden ,there are none in the area.
Sign In or Register to comment.