He also notes that the recent mass appearance of painted ladies – recalling the extraordinary summer of 2009, when tens of millions of these butterflies could be seen throughout the UK – has absolutely nothing to do with the weather here in Britain. Instead, it indicates that conditions were favourable on the fringes of the Sahara in Morocco, where these butterflies came from. As Nina begins to unravel her previously unaware of family secrets, the reader also learns more about Teddy – her past, her experiences and her connection with a house called Keepsake. I received a copy of The Butterfly Summer from Hachette New Zealand to review. I can’t remember why this stood out to me but I’m glad it did.

Native wild flowers are often considered to be more suitable than non-native ones, but the real key is making sure there are nectar-rich flowers in bloom from April through to October Conway drops clues deftly into the water with hardly a ripple - reread this gently nostalgic mystery and you will be astonished at what you missed the first time' - The Jewish Chronicle

The gatekeeper, a butterfly of country hedgerows and grass verges, was the most common butterfly with 142,618 counted, up 58.6% on summer 2021, which was its second worst Big Butterfly Count result. There were so many disturbing things that happened in the Parr history. I don’t understand how Keepsake affected the Parr women or what some of them did there. I especially don’t understand why they would willingly do that to themselves..

I seem to be on a roll lately with really fabulous books. I just finished listening to Audible's Butterfly Summer by Anne-Marie Conway and read by Kate Harbour. This is added to my list of good reads. For the description of the butterfly garden alone, this book is worth the read. But who would have thought that a modern ghost story could take place in this setting? The title refers to the fact that man can learn from the butterfly’s example: it is happy reclining on a stone, as happy as if it were a beautiful flower. Perhaps we, too, can stoically approach life in such a way: when given a less desirable situation, we can view it as sufficient and still be happy with our lot. For children who like books that deal with serious family issues, Moon Pie by Simon Mason is another fantastic read. Zoe Randle, senior surveys officer for Butterfly Conservation, said: “It is really quite worrying, particularly because we had such good weather this summer across most of the UK, with above-average temperatures and below-average rainfall, particularly in July. We need to do a lot more to protect and restore habitats for these widespread species.” Other mysteries begin to crop up from this moment forth. Nina hears of a woman named Teddy who she apparently looks like, and learns that the mansion from her favourite childhood book is a real place. But how are these things connected to Nina’s father?

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Many of the best butterfly poems focus on the carefree and joyous nature of the insect, and the Welsh poet W. H. Davies (1871-1940) offers another example of this association, in a poem titled, fittingly enough, ‘The Example’. Thanks to Butterfly Conservation for letting us use their images throughout this article. For more information on UK butterflies and how you can help them, please visit Butterfly Conservation.org. Here you will find a wealth of information to help you find and identify butterflies and moths. Mary Emily Bradley (1835-98) writes here about her daughter finding a ‘baby butterfly’ or chrysalis. However, her daughter will die before she gets to see the butterfly grow and fly away. What can Bradley learn from this tragedy? She ponders the ‘secret’ of it in the poem’s final stanza.

This is a really unusual book – haunting and poignant in turn and a real trail to find out the truth of the past. I admit I found the idea intriguing from the beginning – like how one butterfly flapping its wings can change things and how we over the years try to make things right, change the course of events and the things we do to keep family together. Provides comprehensive coverage of all our resident and migratory butterflies, including the latest information on newly discovered species such as the Cryptic Wood White and the Geranium Bronze. The definitive book on the subject, it includes fully updated distribution maps. The American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963) was a contemporary of the modernists, but he rejected their focus on free verse and preferred to write more directly about the world of nature and his own place within it, using rather than dismissing traditional forms. Although its numbers hardly changed compared to summer 2022, Green-veined White has the most severe Big Butterfly Count trend in the longer term, a decrease of 61%. Research by scientists at Butterfly Conservation confirms that the long-term population trend of some of our most charismatic insects is indeed downward, with more than three-quarters of the UK’s butterflies and two-thirds of larger moths in decline.

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Like the sun glinting on a butterfly's wing, there's both light and darkness in Anne-Marie Conway's outstanding novel...[ Butterfly Summer] gets to the heart of childhood dilemmas whilst unravelling mysteries from the past. A terrific read for youngsters aged nine and over' - Lancashire Evening Post The Butterfly Summer is actually the first book by Harriet Evans I’ve read, which is quite weird, but I can’t change it. Anyway, let’s start…

This is very different to what I’v read from Harriet before but it was a lovely surprise – a really unusual idea and I enjoyed getting to know all the women of the family. Nina is also still missing the enigmatic woman who lived in the top floor flat of their house Mrs.Poll. Mrs.Poll was there when her mother was not she told her stories, cared for her and treated her like a daughter. A book called Nina and the Butterflies holds a special place in Nina’s heart and will be forever associated with Mrs.Poll. There is not a lot you can specifically say about this story without giving away crucial plot points. Surprises are thrown in when you least expect it and what you believed to be true you find yourself questioning at every corner. The author made excellent use of the past as an aid to explaining circumstances and events in the present and how characters came to be who they were or why they acted as they did. There was one character that shall remain nameless who just came across as an utter wimp with no guts or strength of character at all. This person was almost like a puppy wanting to do its best to please their new owner but the actions of said person in my mind left an awful lot to be desired and I felt Nina was too ready and willing to accept an explanation that was weak and which has led to unnecessary suffering. The large blue, which was hastened to extinction by the dry summer of 1976, enjoyed its best year since being reintroduced in 1983 via caterpillars from Sweden, increasing by 58% on 2017. There are more large blues now flying in Britain than any other country. The drought of 1976 proved disastrous for many species, but the more recent drought in 2018 did not appear to have the negative impact that butterfly scientists feared it might. But there were 161,987 gatekeepers counted in 2019, and yet it was only the fourth most common butterfly that year.In this article we have compiled a short guide on which butterflies you are likely to see outside this spring/summer, as well as some tips on the features by which you can distinguish certain species. Gardens