Is there an awkward, unloved corner of your space that you can leave to grow a bit wild? Sometimes the best thing you can do for wildlife is nothing.
Weeds are extremely valuable sources of food and shelter for butterflies and moths. Bramble, nettle, dandelions, willowherbs and garlic mustard provide food for many different caterpillars, including those of the Small Tortoiseshell and Elephant Hawk-moth. The flowers of weeds provide nectar for all sorts of adult butterflies and moths too.
Leave some longer grass through the summer and over the winter to provide food and shelter for butterflies such as the Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood.
Leave some dead stems and flowerheads over winter instead of ‘tidying up’. Many butterflies and moths spend the winter as eggs, caterpillars or chrysalises on plant material.
Cut your hedge less often, leaving some uncut over the winter if you can. Hedges offer shelter in the colder months to hibernating butterflies and moths, and other species will spend the winter as eggs, caterpillars or chrysalises on stems and branches.
