How to attract butterflies to your garden and help them survive
Butterflies are not only beautiful but also beneficial to the ecosystem. They are effective pollinators of plants and an important component of the food chain. And if you don't have butterflies in your garden, you need to bring them back.
The SSPDaily website reports that, according to the Butterfly Conservation organization, the number of butterflies in the UK has declined significantly over the past 50 years. The fact is that these insects are very sensitive to environmental changes, and any decrease in their number indicates a decrease in the number of other wildlife species.
Here are the best recommendations from ecologists on how to help butterflies this summer.
What and where to plant?
Plant a variety of flowers that attract insects to improve the garden ecosystem. At the same time, it is desirable that these are plants that weave and climb walls and fences. Butterflies love them because it is convenient to hide from the rain in their foliage.
What not to do?
Avoid mowing the law: this is a great favor to flying insects. Grass-eating caterpillars survive well on tall grass. Therefore, by leaving the lawn untouched, you give the next cycle of butterflies the opportunity to develop.
In addition, avoid using pesticides: this will also improve the viability of the population.
And finally, if you want to help butterflies, tell people about their importance and explain how they can help.
By the way, this year, 90,000 volunteers took part in the Big Butterfly Count program, which submitted more than 1.5 million observations. Butterfly counts were conducted throughout the UK, and the results were plotted on an interactive map.