A Butterfly Belt.

Fewer butterflies graced our gardens than ever before last year and lepidopterologists are very anxious about what this year will bring; a further decline, will numbers stabilise or more hopefully, increase?

I know I have asked before but I am pleading now, if you are a seasoned mower, please join me in creating A Butterfly Belt through Henley, surrounding areas and beyond.

I know many of us grew up with pristine mown tramlines on our parents’ lawns and find it comforting to have similar. My father may well have said ‘a tidy lawn is a tidy mind’; he certainly proffered the sentiment in relation to his desk and our teenage bedrooms. Recent research from hundreds of gardens taking part in a study proved that long grass increased butterfly numbers.

Significantly more butterflies and a greater variety were recorded in gardens where lawns were unmown because several species use long grass as a breeding habitat. Additionally, 31% more Holly Blue butterflies were recorded in gardens with flowering ivy.

It isn’t easy to hand your lawn over to nature, I truly understand that and it isn’t easy to mow it at the end of the summer either, I definitely sympathise there too but if I can manage it, pretty much anyone can. If you care about butterflies, moths, bees and other insect life please take a leap of faith this year because it is doable and it will make a difference.

No butterflies find any use for uniformly short, verdant green, daisy etc free (and in effect life free), bowling green arrangements. If letting go completely is a step too far, get experimental and mow a crop circle for garden furniture and definitely mow paths to the aforementioned and towards greenhouses and sheds; this approach does give a feeling of structure and I like the overall effect. If you already have an unmown area perhaps consider extending it and maybe ask children or grandchildren to design a sign with the slogan ‘A Butterfly Belt’ to get them involved and explain to visitors what you’re doing.

Thank you.

Sarah Ronan February 2025.