The June
gap
![]() Every year in June Butterfly
Conservation is contacted by members of the public
concerned about the lack of butterflies in their
gardens. Our advice is not to worry if it is a bit
quiet in your flowerbeds this
month.
Many of the butterflies that
normally visit gardens, such as the Gatekeeper and
Meadow Brown won’t appear until next month. Other
species, like the Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Holly
Blue, are in between their spring and summer
generations, so spend June as caterpillars. They’ll all
be ‘on the wing’ in plenty of time for the Big
Butterfly Count, which starts on 16th
July.
That’s not to say
that you won’t see anything at all in your garden or on
a walk this month. It is a great time of year to visit
nature reserves in search of some of our rarer
butterflies. Almost all of the threatened fritillaries
are flying now, as are wonderful species such as the
Swallowtail, Chequered Skipper, Adonis Blue and Black
Hairstreak.
Butterfly Conservation’s own nature
reserves are a great place to start.
Species to look out
for this month: Large Skipper
![]() The Large Skipper is is one of the
few common butterflies that emerges in June. Although
not a regular visitor to gardens, it’s a widespread
butterfly found in parks, fields and
woods.
Large
Skippers are fantastic butterflies full of
character. You’ll typically encounter a male, sitting on
a leaf in a sunny spot, wings held half-cocked ready for
action, keeping lookout for intruders on his patch or a
passing female. It’s worth watching them for a while,
admiring the golden orange and brown mottling on their
wings and the skill and tenacity with which they will
see off other butterflies, much larger than themselves,
before returning to their chosen vantage
point.
Transform £1 into
£10 with our Match Pot Appeal
![]() Six years ago Government introduced
a tax on waste disposal companies, to reduce the amount
of rubbish going into landfill and encourage recycling.
Environmental organisations can apply for grants from
the money raised but in order to release the funds we
have to contribute 10 per cent of the cost of a
project.
Landfill funds have been allocated to protect the
Duke of Burgundy in Hampshire and Sussex and the Large
Blue in Somerset but they only cover 90 per cent of
the total amount needed. We must raise the rest before
these projects can go ahead.
One pound donated to
the Match Pot Appeal will unlock £10 of funding to
protect endangered butterflies and moths. Many other
important projects are waiting to be funded.
Please donate
today .
Get
kids counting butterflies
![]() So far almost 2000 schools have
signed up to be part of this year's Big
Butterfly Count.
There is still time
for teachers and parents to log on to the Butterfly
Effect website to access fun
resources, for use in the classroom and at
home. Download an ID
chart, discover more about the butterflies you might see
and even create your own species - which can then
be released into the online gallery and uploaded to
a Facebook page.
M&S Plan
A![M&S Plan A]() Marks & Spencer is
delighted to be part of Big Butterfly Count.
We're committed to
helping support the future of our wonderful butterflies
and we'd like to thank Butterfly Conservation for their
on-going work with our farmers, in order to help them
encourage and maintain more butterflies on their
farms.
To find out more
about our partnership with Butterfly Conservation and
our other Plan A goals, visit marksandspencer.com/PlanA.
To find out more
about how you can help butterflies, please visit the Butterfly
Conservation website.
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to unsubscribe or change your
details?
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Butterfly
Conservation Trading Limited (BCT Ltd), a registered
company 07166835, Registered Office: Manor Yard, East
Lulworth, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 5QP. BCT Ltd is wholly
owned by Butterfly Conservation a registered charity in
England and Wales (254937) and in Scotland (SCO39268).
It trades only to raise funds for Butterfly
Conservation’s charitable objectives.
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