Many thanks Paul. That's interesting. I have managed to find some common buckthorn from Cumbria Tree Growers, 60-90cm bare root trees at £0.85p each (plus £12 delivery and VAT). I bought 25 and I think that's the lot and they've sold out. Michael there (https://www.treegrowers.co.uk/about.html) has ...

Thanks for your reply Paul. I looked again at the link I posted and you're quite right - it switches from discussing crested dogtail to talking about Timothy (Phleum pratense), and that's the grass mentioned as a food plant. So I think they've accidentally pasted in some text about Timothy. And it l...

This is absolutely fascinating, Vince, thank you. I remember huge colonies of peacock and small tortoiseshell caterpillars on a big stands of nettles on a sandy site near Hythe in Hampshire, in the mid-60s. It was a lovely, warm, sheltered spot. In recent decades I've often wondered why I don't see ...

Hi Vince, thanks for the welcome! That sounds promising, then, if I have a couple of large planters with nettles in, I may get red admiral and comma. I Is that because peacock and small tortoiseshell larvae live in large colonies? So need much more of a spacious nettle patch?

Cynosurus cristatus (crested dogstail) seems at first glance like a good grass to choose among the wild flowers. Seed merchants all rate it as important food plant for skipppers and browns (without specifying which species), but the UK butterflies foodplant list (https://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/food...

Many thanks for your reply Paul. I've updated my notifications (I didn't realise I'd had a reply until this morning). After speaking to a keen gardener, I did in fact do exactly as you suggested, so I now have a semi-circle of bare soil, and I'm trying to settle on the seeds to buy – and probably so...

I have recently joined, and this is my first post. We're in the southwest London suburbs (Kingston area) and we have a sheltered, well planted back garden, with a patch of lawn that we've decided to leave partly to nature this year in the hope of attracting more insects. I've begun by leaving a semi...