Butterflies - good and bad news!

[veggiechicken]

First some stunning photos BBC Nature - Boost for countryside butterflies
The good news - Butterfly numbers increased during last year's hot summer

The bad news..........5 times as many small cabbage whites were counted in 2013 than in 2012. I think most of them were in my garden.

Is it wrong to hope that one species will thrive and not another

[WendyC]

We saw swallowtails on the Broads last summer, spectacular, but yes the cabbage whites are less welcome. If only their caterpillars could be persuaded to eat something else. Don't think they were all in your garden as recent posts suggest the have been targeting other gardens all winter!

[veggiechicken]

They came to me for their summer holidays Wendy

[WendyC]

They came to me for their summer holidays Wendy

Ah that explains it. Something to look forward to in the next few months!

[andy_j]

Wendy...i saw, and photographed a Swallowtail at Berwick church last year (near Eastbourne). I thought that last summer was one of the best ive ever seen for so many butterfly species.

[veggiechicken]

I've told them I'm fully booked this year and can they go somewhere else. I've told them that West Sussex is lovely - the food is good too

[andy_j]

Took this on my rubbish phone camera

[arpoet]

I don't know what they are but I have several, big red butterflies with black marks on, over wintering in my basement. One was fluttering about the other day.

[Bigmallly]

I like cabbage whites but too many would give me indigestion..........

[lottie dolly]

it's not just cabbages,the things also swarmed on the radishes in flower and pods,