Save the Butterflies 🦋
The Big Butterfly Count starts today! 🦋🦋🦋
You can download a handy butterfly ID chart or free app from @savebutterflies to help you get started. Knowing that your count numbers contribute to conservation science and research is excellent.
The Big Butterfly Count begins on Friday 15th July 2022 and will run until Sunday 7th August.
Butterflies have always been an iconic feature in our designs. Here you can see just some of our organic items with butterflies in our print.
🦋 A super-bright flowery butterfly dress
🦋 Our versatile baby blankets - with pockets
🦋 Beautiful appliqué butterfly dress
🦋 Stripes & spotty butterfly summery twirl dress
🦋 Butterfly flower print 2-pack muslin
Organic baby & child clothing like Toby Tiger only uses natural pest control methods are used which help to keep the soil fertile, water clean, and our air unpolluted. This is good news for pollinators such as butterflies who rely on plants and flowers that are insecticides and pesticides free.
Top Butterfly Facts
- Butterflies have been around for at least 50 million years. This is why there are so iconic, and everyone loves them.
- Butterflies like warmth, so choose sunny, sheltered spots when planting nectar plants.
- There are four stages to the butterfly lifecycle: egg, caterpillar, pupa and adult butterfly.
- Butterflies have four wings, not two. Look closely when you are counting to see each of the wings.
- Butterflies can see colours that humans can’t. How amazing is that!
- Butterflies taste with their feet! Imagine if you had to do that...
How can we help?
We can do certain things, particularly in our gardens and wild spaces, to help these creatures. We must do what we can so that future generations can enjoy their magic.
- Don't use insecticides and pesticides
- Don't buy peat compost
- Prolong flowering by deadheading flowers
- Try to provide flowers right through the butterfly season.
Butterflies favourite flowers
You are looking for inspiration for how to attract butterflies to your garden? There are certain types of flowers and plants that they love. You will surely see plenty of butterflies floating around if you plant some of these.
- Buddleia: Otherwise known as the 'butterfly bush, is a great nectar shrub you can plant for butterflies.
- Verbena bonariensis: Also attracts bees and is easy to grow.
- Lavender: Great scent for aiding sleep and can be used to create potpourri
- Perennial Wallflower: Loves full sun and is excellent for creating a wildlife garden
- Oregano: This Mediterranean herb is easy to grow, and certain butterflies will also lay their eggs on the leaves.
Join in the Big Butterfly Count
- Download an ID chart to help you recognise all the different types
- Download the app to help you keep track of your counts (Google Play / Apple App Store). You can also use it to identify the different species while on the go.
- Start counting! You only need to do it for 15 minutes at a time, recording the location, date and time. It's a great way to get out into nature.
- There are 21 species to look out for; can you spot them all?