With butterfly numbers falling, Pete Harcom explains how we can all help pollinators thrive by rethinking lawns, flowers and our love of tidy gardens
do some gardening for wildlife … and in particular, for our butterflies?
They are beautiful, of course, and they are also an important part of the UK’s wildlife – but our butterflies are swiftly disappearing.
They are highly sensitive indicators of the health of the environment and play crucial roles in the food chain, as well as being pollinators of plants.
The UK now has 59 species of butterflies, with five species having become extinct in the last 150 years. The 2022 report on the state of the UK’s butterflies revealed the alarming news that 80 per cent of butterfly species in the UK have decreased in either abundance, distribution or both since 1976.
Decreases in butterfly populations on this scale are a huge cause for concern: butterflies are an integral part of the UK ecosystem and their decline is a clear warning signal of the wider biodiversity crisis.
Perhaps we should consider stopping using weed killers and pesticides?
The RHS provides some really good advice on which plants are good for our pollinators, including butterflies, on its website here. They particularly like buddleia, sedum, hebe, wild marjoram, common knapweed, red Valerian, nettles, holly, hops and verbena bonariensis.
The Woodland Trust suggests that if we want to help pollinators, we should avoid plants with double or multi–petalled flowers: pollinators find them difficult to access. The flowers also often lack nectar and pollen. Roses and dahlias are often bred to have double flowers, but there are plenty of beautiful single–flowered varieties to grow instead.
Your new meadow
Another thing particularly appropriate this month is participating in the Plantlife charity ‘No Mow May’ idea. Maybe expand it into further months of the year: let go of that perfect lawn idea, and instead mow pathways through your new mini meadow? Leave the lawn to produce wildflowers, as these will provide nectar for our insects, butterflies and moths.
If your lawn is near a hedge or fence, insects tend to use longer grasses near hedges or fence lines for shelter. These un–mown areas provide valuable habitat for pollinators, insects, butterflies and moths, just when they are hatching or coming out of hibernation. And they in turn are a food source for birds, bats and other wildlife.
Of course, an actual wildflower meadow won’t appear from just not mowing the lawn, but it is surprising just how many flowers do appear … daisies and clover will be first, then dandelions, buttercups, yarrow … primroses and violets may also appear.
When you decide to start mowing the lawn again, mow it on the high setting on the mower first and then gradually cut it shorter over the ensuing weeks.
If you sometimes leave the lawn clippings on the lawn, they will rot down and fertilise the sward.
