Butterflies
Even common butterflies have lost out as hedges and field edges rich in wild flowers and grasses have gone under the plough. So what can we do to help?
Chwilio
Speckled wood butterfly - Vicky Nall
Chwilio
Natural wonders this February
While February’s weather tends to keep us in our wintery reality, the month also offers up some wildlife delights that can keep us ticking towards the coming spring. In his blog, Sam Finnegan-Dehn…
Greater knapweed
The ragged-edged, purple flower heads of Greater knapweed bloom on sunny chalk grasslands and clifftops, and along woodland rides. They attract clouds of butterflies.
Common rock-rose
Golden banks of common rock-rose make a spectacular sight on our chalk and limestone grasslands in summer. A creeping shrub, it is good for bees, moths and butterflies.
Small heath
The small heath is the smallest of our brown butterflies and has a fluttering flight. It favours heathlands, as its name suggests, as well as other sunny habitats.
Woodland
Woodlands are magical places, full of wildlife and full of history. Great spotted woodpeckers, nuthatches and jays flit between trees as butterflies dance in sunny glades. Badgers forage through…
Buddleia
Buddleia is a familiar shrub, well-known for its attractiveness to butterflies. It is actually an introduced species, however, that has become naturalised on waste ground, railway cuttings and in…
Devil's-bit scabious
The pincushion-like, lilac-blue flower heads of Devil's-bit scabious attract a wide variety of butterflies and bees. Look for this pretty plant in damp meadows and marshes, and on riverbanks…
Meadow brown
One of our most common butterflies, the meadow brown can be spotted on grasslands, and in gardens and parks, often in large numbers. There are four subspecies of meadow brown.
The Little Orme audio trail
Join North Wales Wildlife Trust on an audio trail to explore the Little Orme, a coastal gem rich in history, geology, and wildlife. Once a Neolithic settlement and shaped by 19th-century quarrying, this headland is now home to vibrant limestone grasslands, delicate orchids, and fluttering butterflies during the spring and summer months.
Carline thistle
The Carline thistle produces distinctive brown-and-golden flower heads that look like a seeded thistle. These flowers are attractive to a wide range of butterflies, including the very rare Large…
Common knapweed
The tightly packed, thistle-like purple flower heads of common knapweed bloom on all kinds of grasslands. Also regularly called black knapweed, this plant attracts clouds of butterflies.