Summer holiday wild fun! Week Four:

We’re half-way through the holidays now so if that leaves you in a flutter for ideas then fear not! It’s week four in our series of summer holiday wild fun and we’re feeling flighty with thoughts of butterflies.

Read on to learn more about these gentle and elegant creatures, their preferred habitats and to be creatively inspired by their beauty.

Nothing says summer like the sight of a butterfly gently fluttering on the breeze, or watching it land and slowly opening and closing its wings to unleash its inner beauty. Dainty and colourful – these creatures are not just pretty but an important part of our wildlife community. Butterflies provide us with a good idea of how healthy our environment is, play a crucial role in food chains and are much-needed pollinators.

Painted Lady Butterfly sitting on a bramble — © Josh Kubale

Look Out For Butterflies!

In the UK we have 59 species of butterfly – you’ll find 10 of these on our Woodland Butterfly Spotter Sheet – a perfect activity for a woodland walk. Butterflies are more active when the sun’s out so look for them in sunny glades where there are fewer trees and more open spaces.

Blue butterfly on a pink flower — © Paul Thrush

Create Your Own Butterfly Garden

If you have a garden or outdoor space you could consider making your very own butterfly garden – this guide names plants which will attract them in the different seasons - you’ll find that bees love them too! Have in mind that butterflies like warmth and the plants that they feed from are also sun lovers, so it makes sense to plant flowering plants in a sunny spot, where they are sheltered from wind. Butterflies have sensors on their antennae, legs and feet and they can sense not only the smell of flowers but also whether their nectar is edible. Flower colour also influences butterflies’ diets - different species have varying preference for nectar in terms of both colour and taste – purple, yellow and red flowers prove most popular. When planning a butterfly garden, plant a mixture of colourful plants that bloom at different times to create the most positive impact and to get a variety of butterflies coming to visit.

Comma butterfly feeding on purple Verbena flowers with a blurred cottage garden in the background. — © Nick Upton

Feeling Crafty?

How about making yourself a butterfly mask or why not have a look at different species of butterflies on our wildlife explorer pages for decorative ideas? You could make several different masks and give them to friends and family. Or, how about making a model butterfly and hanging it up for all to see. You could even go about creating one for a few different species!

Young boy in a blue raincoat colouring with a felt tip pen. — © Amy Lewis

Coming up

Next week we’ll be getting snap happy as we look at the launch of our Wild Snaps Photography Competition – join us for some picture-perfect wild fun!

And finally…

Above all, we want you to stay safe and enjoy the great outdoors and all it has to offer. To help you do that, we’ve produced this blog ‘Stay Safe in Hot Weather’ – with advice on water safety and fire safety, as well as tips for your own personal safety and comfort.

Why not keep a record of all your school summer holiday activities? We’d love to see what you get up to so please do share your stories, photos and creations with us on social media. You’ll find us at @hertswildlifetrust on Instagram and Facebook and @HMWTBadger on Twitter.