Episode 84: Butterflies with Peter Eeles

This week I’m speaking to butterfly expert Peter Eeles. If you’re interested in encouraging more butterflies into your garden and you’d like to know what plants to grow to encourage them, we discuss how you can be a better gardener for butterflies and it doesn’t stop at growing some buddleia! Peter is the author of the book Life Cycles of British & Irish Butterflies. The book is THE definitive guide to UK butterflies and documents the different life stages from adults down to the smallest eggs. This episode is supporting Independent UK Nursery Johnson’s Sweet Peas. What We Discuss: How many British butterfly species are there? How many life stages are documented in the book? What are the chances of us recreating butterfly habitats in our gardens? What are some of the most important host or nectar plants we can include in our gardens? Are butterflies fussy about their food plants? Are some plants better than others? Do any of our butterflies overwinter in the UK or are they all migratory? Do we have any invasive species that force others out? Which species are most able to cope with a loss in habitat? Will we see a proliferation of one or two successful species that are more adaptable? The key period we should avoid cutting back foliage in our gardens/meadows/road verges Links: www.ukbutterflies.co.uk Life Cycles of British & Irish Butterflies - Peter Eeles, NatureBureau 2019 Peter Eeles on Twitter @petereeles  www.johnsonssweetpeas.co.uk   Johnson’s Sweet Peas on Twitter @JohnsonsSweetPs  Johnson’s on Instagram @johnsonssweetpeas  Get in touch: Email [email protected]  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall  Instagram @rootsandallpod  Patreon Link: Help me keep the podcast free & independent by subscribing at Patreon!   Or donate as much or as little as you like at GoFundMe