We officially launched our St Albans Butterfly Challenge at the Growing the Greenhouse event on June 11 2023 at the George Street Canteen. It was a beautiful day and the wildlife garden was buzzing with life. A perfect place to enthuse people about butterflies and how to attract them!
Left to right: Malcolm Hull giving us a fascinating talk about butterflies. Jo and Nadia behind the WW stall, which was offering free pollinator friendly seeds and plants. One of our younger visitors enjoying the butterfly matching game!
Our challenge involves all of us growing in our gardens or on our patios the favourite food plants of a selection of 7 butterfly and moth species. These have been carefully chosen for us by Malcolm Hull from Butterfly Conservation, who opened his butterfly friendly allotment to the public during Sustfest.
Our 7 selected species are:
| Butterfly or Moth species | Food plants | Top Tips | |
| 1. | Peacock  Peacock butterfly on verbena bonariensis | Caterpillar: Common stinging nettles Adult: Verbena and Buddleija | Grow nettles in a sunny corner of the garden away from children, as they do sting. Butterflies like verbena bonariensis the best! |
| 2. | Orange tip  Orange tip butterfly on garlic mustard | Caterpillar: Garlic mustard,Lady’s smock, Sweet rocket and Honesty Adult: Garlic mustard | Orange tip butterflies breed more successfully on garlic mustard (also known as hedge garlic), than on honesty. Lady’s smock is also good, but prefers damp soil, whereas garlic mustard is drought resistant. |
| 3. | Common blue  Common blue butterfly | Caterpillar: Bird’s foot trefoil Adult: Knapweed | Common blue butterflies like all species of knapweed. |
| 4. | Gatekeeper Gatekeeper butterfly | Caterpillar: Finer grasses such as bents, fescues and meadow grasses. Adult: Oregano and Fleabane | Source a meadow grass mix from an organic supplier such as Bee Happy Plants. Gatekeeper butterflies seem to prefer laying their eggs in the shade. |
| 5. | Comma Comma butterfly | Caterpillar: Common stinging nettles Adult: Knapweed | Comma caterpillars will also eat Wild hop, but they prefer stinging nettles. Like common blues, commas like all species of knapweed. |
| 6. | Hummingbird hawk moth Hummingbird hawk moth on jasmine | Caterpillar: Lady’s bedstraw and Hedge bedstraw Adult: Honeysuckle, Buddleija and Red valerian | This year there is evidence that the hummingbird hawk moth, a European visitor, hibernated over winter in the UK for what may be the first time. |
| 7. | 6-spot burnet 6-spot burnet moth on clover | Caterpillar: Bird’s foot trefoil Adult: Knapweed and Scabious | You can also look out for the cocoons the caterpillars make on grass stems. |
Once you have turned your garden into a smorgasbord for butterflies, the challenge is to spot any or all of the 7 species in your garden over the course of the summer. If possible, we’d also like you to photograph them. Please then send your photos to nadia@wilderhoodwatch.org so that they can be added to our Butterfly Challenge photo gallery and entered into a competition for Best Butterfly Photograph of 2023.
You can also download the Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count app, and submit your sightings between Friday July 14 and Sunday August 6.
For more useful information, check out these website pages:
Butterfly Conservation Wild Spaces (for more great tips on butterfly friendly gardening) – https://butterfly-conservation.org/wild-spaces
Herts & Middx Butterfly Conservation Branch (for up to date info on which species are flying in our area and the best places to see them and more) – https://www.hertsmiddx-butterflies.org.uk/sightings-new.php
Big Butterfly Count (for info on how to take part) – https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/
