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

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Two books within one. For the main part The Butterfly Summer is the contemporary story of Nina Parr and Keepsake, the magical home that is her birthright. Interspersed with her story is that of her grandmother, Theodora aka Teddy. I liked how The Butterfly Summer was set out and it covered a lot of different topics, like war, being gay during a time when it was still seen as wrong, guilt the London Riots. I didn’t know the London Riots were going to be in the book but it was interesting to read about it. If only for the short time is was mentioned. 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.

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.

Hedgerows and Woodland-Edge

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 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.

But the dry weather affected caterpillars that feed on grasses that withered and died prematurely in the hot, dry conditions. The gatekeeper, small skipper and Essex skipper all fell by more than 20% on the previous year.It was a vintage year for the “cabbage whites”, with large whites up by 118%, small whites increasing by 155% and green-veined whites rising by 63%. But we should remember that butterfly populations have always fluctuated from year to year, depending largely on the prevailing weather conditions. To assess these figures more carefully, we really need to look at the long-term trends, which are rather less positive. For many of Britain’s favourite summer butterflies, including the once-common and familiar small tortoiseshell, there has been a steady decline over the past 40 years or so. This is due to a combination of factors, of which the most serious are the intensification of farming, combined with a more general fragmentation and loss of habitat. Dr Richard Fox concluded: “Nearly 137,000 Big Butterfly Counts were recorded this summer and if every single person who helped with the Count creates a Wild Space, we can build a UK-wide network of spaces for butterflies to feed, breed and shelter. By creating a Wild Space everyone can make a difference and help butterflies and moths thrive.” 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. For children who like books that deal with serious family issues, Moon Pie by Simon Mason is another fantastic read.

Butterflies need a place to live. If they can feed, breed and shelter, they can thrive. By creating a Wild Space in your outdoor area you can help to reverse the massive losses of wildlife-friendly habitat and start to turn around the fortunes of our declining butterflies." Let's create more space for butterflies! 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. I was born in London and grew up there. I was very bookish, and had a huge imagination which used to cause me to get rather anxious at times. Now I know it's a good thing for a writer to have. I loved musicals, and playing imaginative games, and my Barbie perfume making kit. Most of all I loved reading. I read everything, but I also read lots of things over and over, which I think is so important. Overall, the data reveals that 2022 was an average year for butterflies although Fox described it as “a year of two halves” with good numbers of butterflies in early summer but then greatly reduced abundance after the heatwave and drought. Results of Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count 2023 have been released today, revealing a better picture for butterflies than had been feared.

About Anne-Marie Conway

The book had been moving along at a slow enough pace for me as there was a huge amount of setting up to do and then all of a sudden an event turned everything on its head and finally we got to the heart of the matter and I began to take more of a an interest in what was going on. Nina discovers there is a legacy, a heritage to which she has a right to as she is near to turning 26. Nina hears of the house Keepsake which is now rightfully hers, the question is does she really want it and all that it brings or is she happy to meander along in life a little bit lost and not quite happy with everything going on? Nina wasn’t a character that I especially warmed to, I felt she expected all the answers to be there right in front of her fairly straight forward and requiring no thought process. I wanted more of an element of discovery and uncovering the past on Nina’s part. It felt too dragged out in the present and bits of Nina’s so called journey went over my head. In my mind the story only got going when the past began to come to light. Oh.my god. Just where do I begin? This was undoubtedly the most gripping, suspenseful, enthralling book i have ever read. I mean, the increasing sense of mystery and suspense was just amazing, incredibly, something I simply cannot get over. That and how spine-chilling it actually was! The mysteries and suspense just left you wanting to read more and more! I was up til late finishing it because it would've just drove me crazy if I had these major mysteries just hanging over me, I was determined to see them unfold and find out what this dramatic suspense would lead to! I never tell too much about a book I review but urge you to read this one; its well written, hauntingly sad in places but satisfying in it's conclusion. I did guess the outcome but it does not really become obvious until the last few chapters at least it didn't for me. I enjoyed the journey of these females as they accepted responsibility of their inheritance and the burden that it bought them. 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. Peter Marren, a naturalist whose latest book, Emperors, Admirals and Chimney Sweepers, tells the compelling story of the weird and wonderful names of our butterflies and moths, sounds a note of caution about the recent glut of sightings. While accepting that warm weather is good for adult butterflies, he points out that it may not be quite so favourable for their offspring, which often rely on a specific plant on which their caterpillars feed.

Truly great butterfly years are the third good summer in a row – so the abundance of butterflies of in 1976 was helped by fine summers in 74 and 75,” said Oates. Persuading butterflies to choose your garden is relatively simple: provide plants that produce the nectar on which the adults will feedIn autumn, leave fallen fruit on the ground: painted ladies and red admirals love feeding on the fermenting juices

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