Attracting more butterflies into my garden - or "growing my own?"

Even though I have a lot of flowers in my garden, including a number of buddleia bushes, I see very few butterlies. The garden is a reasonable size and is surrounded by farmer's fields (mostly containing grass).

I see that you can buy "butterfly kits" online but the prices seem an absolute rip off - £2 or more per egg/caterpillar/pupa. If such people really want to re-stock the wild butterflies of the UK why don't they give you a lot more in each kit?

Anyway, is there a better way that I can obtain more eggs, etc online with a view to repopulating assorted species in my area?

For example, I have an awful lot of nettles in patches of my garden which I'm sure that tortoiseshell and peacock butterflie caterpillars would love.

 

watching this thread with interest - I won't hijack it, even though I have a specific question on this very matter.
Do you have clover? I found leaving the clover in the grass to flower helped tremendously...

 

Yes, there is some clover which is left to flower.

 

@TheMadHedger I must confess and i don't think im alone ...to admit that when i have seen Catapillars on nettles that i know will be cut down, by the roadside- i have collected them up and placed them on my own nettle patch, to give them a better chance of survival. Also when I've had some caterpillars on nettles in with the chickens ......to prevent any of them doing what comes naturally the nettle patch can have one of these placed over them- ​

but please remember to provide and tree trunk and branch for them to pupate on - then when they have emerged simply lift off to set them free
And most import is that no matter HOW many nectar pollinator friendly plants to have in the garden - you also to have the variety of visitors need to ensure that some of the larvel plants are nearby too

UK Butterflies - Larval Foodplants
Larval Foodplants This page lists the larval foodplants used by British butterflies. The name of each food plant links to a Google search. An indication of whether the food plant is a primary or secondary food source is also given. Much of this information is taken from The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland (Asher, 2001).

 

Some great ideas there, many thanks.

 

@TheMadHedger
And to the wonderful world of Flutterbys n Buzzy's i can tell you its amazing and soooo rewarding there is nothing more-satisfying knowing that these incredible creatures have a sanctuary in your garden - Good luck with all your 2018 Butterfly plans, just think this time next year you may have just finished taking part in the big butterfly countHappy days

 

I put nasturtiums in all my borders this year, the butterfly's and bees are still loving them, caterpillars are everywhere .

 

Or a gas bottle

 

@martin-f wonder whether you'll see any more rare Butane Butterfly pupae

 

There was one on a cctv camera a few weeks ago, there's 100s of caterpillar's all over the garden, the butterfly's love these plants for egg laying, there not bothered about the flowers but the bees love them.

 

I've noticed:
Common Blues like clover alot
Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Painted Lady like Verbena Bonarienensis
Peacocks pupate on nettles
Small Tortoiseshell and Gatekeepers like Marjoram, Lavender and Escallonia.
Comma, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Painted Lady like Buddleia.
Gatekeepers pupate in grassy meadows but will feed as butterflies on a wide variety of garden flowers.

I am not an expert like @BeeHappy but these are just some of my observations.

 

Yes nasturtiums sadly are often underrated plants- i too grow loads of them - they are excellent for scrambling through beds, borders and veg plots up and over climbing beans and tumbling out of pots and hanging baskets tolerant of sun or semi shade - and so easy to remove when you want to clear as there very shallow rooted- i regularly have them pop up somewhere that might not be the best place, but lifted when very small they even transplant okay and the benefit is you rarely have to replenish your seeds as they self-seed freely and store easily so unless you see a new variety that takes your fancy- buying more is never needed Plus the Buzzy's can access the nectar if its been raining as its protected deep inside the bloom- these type of plants are invaluable to pollinators - with our climate being so unsettled

 

@Redwing Yes agree with your observations which is why we can all help by growing those very plants in at least some small part of our garden, each year i confess to feeling a little despondent but every year is a new beginning and we none of know for certain what the weather will bring so with that as my mantra set out every year planting LOADS of hardy annuals , biennials and direct sow in the positive yes HOPE that next year will be the year that last year helped to improve, in my own garden i started out at the onset of the Big Butterfly Count recording just 1 small tortoiseshell ...i was so upset as i see more of that species than some of the others it was a joyous occasion when i finally some weeks later actually recorded 2 ...towards the end of the BB count i recorded 20 plus and even today on a very unsettled day there were 9 feeding on the Red Valerian .I also have an under cover Pergerla walkway created with Buzz'y and Flutterby's in mind ...that have hanging baskets all along them slightly sheltered from driving rain so that when the weather is unsettled which were all seeing more and more of...dry one minute lashing down the next etc the pollinators can still get to feed if they have to wait until the rain eases off, in the meantime they get a chance to fuel up ..I've also created the same in my greenhouse and potting shed both with pots and baskets, it's so lovely to see them busying about alongside me .. it's often been compared to a drive tru for pollinators and i luv it especially when you have a Butterfly land on you to rest up ...just magical- So I can only hope that this is going some small way to assisting them all

Awww and please understand i am in no way an expert....just little ole me muddling through - living alongside Mother Nature and all her wonders - I've always maintained that i live with Nature not Nature lives with me