Hello this is Hayley from the Wild Bunch. July is a busy month for nature, hopefully Summer is in full swing and the world of insects is taking off including our lovely butterflies.
The Big Butterfly Count is just around the corner and it’s the perfect opportunity to spend 15 minutes outdoors to see what you can see. It doesn’t need to be a garden: Rodden Meadow or The Old Showfield are great places to spot butterflies.
It’s also a brilliant free activity to do with the kids during the school holidays. With 59 species of butterfly and an incredible 2500 species of moth found in the UK, you may even spot something you have never seen before. The count begins on 12th July and runs until Sunday 4th August. Just head to the link at the bottom of the page to sign up and and download the identification chart.
With butterfly and moth numbers having decreased significantly since the 1970s, now is as good a time as any to help support these creatures. They are not only vital to the food chain and pollination, they are also important indicators of the health of the environment.
How can we help? Create more butterfly friendly spaces, just leaving a patch of long grass or a pot on a windowsill with nectar-rich plants is as easy as it gets. If we create an area inviting to butterflies, it’s not just an opportunity to see these beautiful creatures, it will also bring other wildlife to the garden like birds, frogs and hedgehogs.
One of our aims as the Wild Bunch is to encourage everyone to garden for wildlife any way they can and the more this is done the more nature corridors will appear with very little effort. In return we get the privilege of seeing butterflies, countless other mini beasts, frogs and garden birds appreciating a place to rest, eat or lay their eggs.
Join us at our next gathering on 18th July on location at Welshmill Park. We will be discussing ways to help swifts, the main challenges they face and the simple things you can do at home to make a big difference.
Sign up for the Big Butterfly count at https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/
