I was going to say as @pansyface pointed out, it's because the big butterfly count started yesterday, sod's law! I've seen a comma in the garden on 4 different occasions this year - had only seen one in my whole (butterfly noticing) life prior to that, and not in my garden. I've had more variety but not massive numbers. Last year I counted ten tortoiseshells at one time which is unheard of - though also the first time I'd grown verbena b and scabious.
I have a wildlife style garden, I like to have a habitat for everyone, I have plenty of bees, they are humming about all day, maybe flutters and bees don't get on?
I have just read an article by Wildlife Trust about growing host plants for caterpillars. Stinging nettles seems high on the menu, I have plenty of them but just doesn't seem to work.
@ieccles651_nmUKAC- I was commenting on the Rez thread the other day that my Buddlejas are all full of flowers but I have had no butterflies and up until yesterday no bees or hoverflies. Several bees appeared yesterday but still no butterflies.
Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
I definitely have a dearth of butterflies as I haven't seen one yet this year and I have two buddleias in flower and plenty of verbena. But there seems to be a dearth of bees where I am as well. Have a long fuchsia hedge in full flower and normally it is covered in bees making quite a noise and I can't work too near them when they are there. But this year I am lucky to see one or two. Seems strange.
If you come from I O M Fran maybe the lack of flutters is a northern problem because I live in the NW which isn't that far away has the flutter flutters.
I can see one on my Buddleja now, but had been thinking myself that there aren't a huge amount of butterflies around. Even on a flower bed with some Verbena B.
I did have a load of caterpillars on my Verbascum a few weeks ago, who then moved to the other end of the flower bed and went on to another type of Verbascum. Annoying my flowers were eaten off that plant, but I didn't disturb them as I want the butterflies to flourish.
Not necessarily a regional problem. You will know what’s “normal” for your garden over the years, but gardens one block over from me have dozens of species of bf and on our block we have hardly any. I did a brief audit.
The reason is the size and nature of the gardens. In the posher blocks, with larger, wilder gardens and huge tall trees, and huge houses, they have the diversity and habitat to attract bf. But on our block the gardens are small terraces with few flowering plants through summer, and a lot more pavers, concrete, fake grass and patio. Big trees, more like woodland, and more left alone quiet corners seem to make a huge difference. My garden is three metres wide and does not really have any quiet corners.
I planted buddliea all around for bf and I have a pretty wide array of blooms for pollinators, personally, but there just isn’t enough hyper locally to attract bf in. Bees, hover flies, moths, and other such critters seem fine; bf, not.
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I did have a load of caterpillars on my Verbascum a few weeks ago, who then moved to the other end of the flower bed and went on to another type of Verbascum. Annoying my flowers were eaten off that plant, but I didn't disturb them as I want the butterflies to flourish.