By Mel Evans

One of the clear signs that Spring is turning into Summer is the Butterflies fluttering around the parks and gardens. You may have even raised your own butterflies from caterpillars and watched their life cycle unfold.

One of the families from our Dragonflies SEND Forest School sessions did just that last year. They brought the butterflies to one of the sessions and shared their release with us. It really was a magical moment.

You can attract more butterflies to your garden by planting the right kinds of flowering plants, but if this isn’t possible right now you could make a butterfly feeder.I have also used these while waiting for the plants, in a newly planted butterfly garden, to establish and bloom.

Ensuring butterflies have enough food is important as many species are in decline. Following the work of Butterfly Conservation is a great way to learn how to support our butterflies.

To make a butterfly feeder you need a clean jam jar, some string, a small piece of sponge and some way of decorating the jar. We used glass pens, but you could try acrylic paint.

Firstly you make a hole in the lid of the jam jar. We did this using a power drill and a large drill bit. You then cut a small square of sponge and pull it through the hole.

Next you use the string to make a net to hold the jam jar when you hang it. This is explained in the video below.

You can decorate the jam jar using the glass pens or acrylic paint. If you make the feeder colourful then butterflies are more likely to be attracted to it, just as they are with flowers.

Finally you can fill the butterfly feeder and hang it in a sunny spot. You can fill it with sugar water or honey water made with approximately 1 part sugar/honey and 8 parts water. You can also fill the feeder with fruit juice.