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Consider planting food plants for caterpillars in your garden. The caterpillar is the larvae or young of the adult butterfly. It hatches from eggs laid onto certain plants and then spends all of its time munching leaves until it is large enough to pupate into an adult butterfly. Most caterpillars only feed on certain plants but some are easier to cater for than others.
Don’t dismiss the value of nettles in a garden – a nettle patch in a sunny location is an excellent food plant for caterpillars. Nettles are used by some of our most familiar butterflies; the Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and Comma. If you wish to encourage these butterflies to breed then it is worth managing your patch by cutting it back in mid-summer to allow fresh new growth to lay eggs on. The cuttings will also benefit your compost heap
| Plants | Caterpillars |
| Buckthorn | Brimstone |
| Birdsfoot Trefoil | Common Blue |
| Cabbage family | Large and Small White |
| Docks, Sorrel | Small Copper |
| Grasses | Meadow Brown, Small & Large Skippers, Gate Keeper, Wall Brown |
| Holly and Ivy | Holly Blue |
| Honesty, Ladies Smock | Orange Tip |
| Thistles | Painted Lady |
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