Milborne Port Climate and Nature Action group
Help! We now have a Butterfly (and heavens knows what else) Emergency.
The charity Butterfly Conservation declared a Butterfly Emergency on 18th September due to the collapse in populations of many butterfly species. Other insects are not the subject of huge citizens’ science projects so we don’t have figures for them. But, with butterflies being the canaries in the coal mine, this is very bad news not just for butterflies, but also humans, other insects and all the species that feed on them.
We can make matters worse, continuing to use pesticides and tidying nature away or – huge thanks again here to the increasing number of people in the village who already leave their front gardens and roadside verges to flower in the summer months – we can make changes that will be of literally vital help. Here’s how:
- Stop using pesticides in your garden (other countries already do: it works)
- Leave one or more wild areas in your garden and enjoy the informality, the colour and life there; hide this area behind a trellis (planted with ivy) if necessary
- Don’t burn all your garden twigs and branches – make a dead wood pile for beetles, invertebrates, slow worms and hedgehogs
- Enjoy the colour, the frost, dewdrops, spiders’ webs and birds on at least some of your garden plant stems over the winter – insects need somewhere to overwinter; wait till spring to cut them back.
- If you have pets, consider changing from flea treatments administered orally to topically administered ones. The former are awful for insect life if and when they get into rivers.
Goldfinches will love the seed heads, Blue Tits will eat your aphids, and Song Thrushes will keep snails in check if you leave enough natural food for them in your garden at all times of year.
The extra insects in your garden will help ensure your vegetable and fruit crops are maximized and provide you with bird song and life too.
One Thing to Do: stop using pesticides and instead leave some wild areas in your garden for natural, healthy pest control!