Turning the 'caterpillar cake wars' into a win for real wildlife.

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Podcast: creating butterfly-friendly gardens

Take part in a flower-insect timed count

Welcome to the latest edition of All Aflutter. The sun’s rays are getting warmer, the days are getting longer and the natural world is blossoming. We hope you’ve managed to spend time outdoors and reap the benefits of being out in nature, as highlighted in our Nurture for Nature campaign.

This month, to continue the theme of enjoying the outdoors, we’re sharing a podcast on creating butterfly-friendly gardens and invite you to take part in a pollinator count. We also share an inside look at how – with the help of Vice-President Chris Packham – we turned the ‘caterpillar cake wars’ into a win for real wildlife.

Podcast: creating butterfly-friendly gardens

As part of our Nurture for Nature campaign, Butterfly Conservation’s Anthony McCluskey joined Dobbies for a special podcast focusing on creating butterfly-friendly gardens.

Hosted by gardening writer Louise Midgley, the podcast explains how to encourage butterflies and moths this spring, including which plants, herbs and flowers are a must for building a butterfly-friendly garden, including for urban areas or those with limited space.

Click to listen to the podcast…

Species to look out for in May:

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Muslin Moth

Green-veined White

Turning caterpillar cake wars into a win for wildlife

When news broke of a row between Marks and Spencer and Aldi over caterpillar cakes, everyone at Butterfly Conservation thought one thing – if only real caterpillars got as much publicity.

So with the help of our Vice-President Chris Packham, we began to turn the focus to real wildlife, and as well as exposing millions of people to our work, it’s also resulted in a new cake coming to market – with all profits coming to Butterfly Conservation.

Click to read the blog…

Take part in a flower-insect timed count

If you’ve got 10 minutes to spare on a sunny day you can help pollinators by doing a FIT Count.

Simply watch a patch of flowers in a green space and count the different types of insects that visit in 10 minutes. You don’t need to identify the species, just the general types.

The data go into the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme in which Butterfly Conservation is a partner.

Download the new, free FIT Count app and get counting. Click here for Android. Click here for iOS.