The Butterfly Summer: From the Sunday Times bestselling author of THE GARDEN OF LOST AND FOUND and THE WILDFLOWERS

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That’s in sharp contrast to other groups of flying insects, such as moths and damselflies, of which several species have successfully colonised in Britain. Surely it is only a matter of time before those new butterflies join them. This, and the fact that two-thirds of butterflies show negative trends over the long-term, highlights the scale of the challenge we face in restoring their fortunes and creating a healthier environment.”

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. To begin with The Butterfly Summer was exciting and refreshing, the cryptic storyline pulling you in and not letting go. However from the midway point it began to considerably slow down and become rather dull, stale. Nina is such an interesting character that, by contrast, the snippets (rather extensive ones) about Teddy’s past were difficult to plow through. Harriet Evans then takes us through several generations of the Parr family and expertly intertwines these characters together even though all the female members of the family were quite different their stories were authentic and characters believable. After meeting the present day Nina we are introduced to her ancestor Lady Nina who has a daughter Charlotte the product of a union between Nina and King Charles II when he was sheltering from the Roundheads he hid at Keepsake. He was enchanted with the butterfly garden that Nina had cultivated. When he hears he has a daughter he sends Nina a diamond brooch shaped like a butterfly which Charlotte wears and gives to her own daughter before she dies. The King also decrees that Keepsake be given to his daughter Charlotte and every daughter born there. On the broach is inscribed 'What's loved is never lost'. I loved as well the lighter element of it showing the beauty of small town, countryside life, like how sweet and lovely the close-knit community was. It was my ideal community to be honest. It was also interesting the way it explored other aspects that were more a secondary aspect of the story like coming of age romance, developing feelings, as part of puberty and growing up in a way. Essentially a story about a dysfunctional family and secrets and obligations that pass from female generation to generation binding them all together for an eternity. It starts at the end really where the present day Nina meets an old woman in the London Library where she has been given life membership by her father before he went away when she was a child and who she never sees again believing him to be dead. This chance meeting (or perhaps it wasn't chance) starts her on a journey of discovery about her life, lineage and inheritance of Keepsake and the butterflies.

I had actually guessed the answer to one of the mysteries before unravelling it, and was indeed spot on about it, which is just a wonderful feeling when you are reading a book and then suddenly you have this amazing realization come to mind, that is a real sign of a truly amazing book! With butterflies emerging so early, many species could go on to have a second or third brood in the autumn. This is not necessarily a boon for some because it can create a “developmental trap” with the autumn butterflies’ offspring unable to cycle through egg and caterpillar stages so late in the year. According to Oates, the demise of the wall brown butterfly is linked to a late brood in which the species’ offspring die off as winter sets in.

Butterfly Conservation has free resources and guidance on creating a Wild Space available, including accessible, tailored, simple advice for anyone to have a go.Yet despite the rise in records of continental European species such as the large tortoiseshell, long-tailed blue and the spectacular queen of Spain fritillary during the past decade, none has yet managed to establish permanent breeding populations here. Essentially a story about the secrets (many of them hardly secrets at all) and obligations that, generation after generation, bind together the women of the Parr family. I'm afraid, especially in its earlier chapters, the characters from the differing eras yet to be established, I found the book confusing, the various strands to the plot unnecessarily convoluted which sadly meant instead of focusing on the story I found myself concentrating overly hard on just where (if anywhere) it was going. 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. But drought is a major problem as plants wither and die, meaning female butterflies may struggle to find anywhere to lay their eggs, or there is not enough food for the caterpillars when they hatch. Gatekeeper was next, with 222,896 sightings. This represents a 12% increase on last year and is a small, but welcome, boost for a species that has decreased by 28% since the Count began.