Hello friends! 

Have ya had a good week? Since its week two of the Big Butterfly Count I thought I’d try something a little different from usual and write a book review!!

Incase it hasn’t already been established I’m a little bit crazy for butterflies and since I’m trying to entice as many of them into my newly designed/planted Wildspace, I thought that I’d try to find a book to give me an idea of which butterflies are most likely to visit the area (and grow the plants accordingly).

Butterflies of Cornwall, atlas for the twenty-first century was published by Cornwall Butterfly Conservation in 2021.

If you’ve not heard of them Butterfly Conservation is kinda like WWF or the RSPB, you join for about £3.00 per month and are sent an amazing welcome pack including postcards, and a lovely little book on gardening for moths and butterflies as well as a handy caterpillar guide and then you receive the Butterfly magazine three times a year (I get ever so excited when I know its on its way!) It’s a really lovely group to be involved with. They organise field trips and everything which is awesome.

Plus I love a book!

So here’s my review…

Butterflies of Cornwall, atlas for the twenty-first century is an incredibly beautiful hardback book which details Cornwall’s environment (including the best places to see different butterflies), what our fluttery friends can tell us about the state of nature and how moths and butterflies are being conserved in Cornwall.

The foreword is written by King Charles III (when he was still HRH Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cornwall) which is a rather lovely touch…in my opinion the only other person who could’ve written the foreword for this book is probably Sir David Attenborough, who is not only an amazingly inspirational role model and well known presenter/naturalist but has also been president of Butterfly Conservation since 1998. 

Theres a fascinating section on the types of butterfly that reside in Cornwall including their lifecycle, feeding habits, habitats and distribution trends (complete with little maps) and the whole book is filled with beautiful photographs and really in-depth details of butterflies and Cornwall in general, which were all taken by CBC members, who must spend hours chasing butterflies for that perfect photograph!

The book is presented in such a beautiful way that you can really appreciate the work, love and effort has gone into its publication.

Honesty there is so much info in this book I feel I’m gonna need to read it 2 or 3 times for it to all sink in. Even though it focuses primary on Cornwall most of the butterflies featured in it are seen across the UK and I think its pretty much a must for anyone interested in identifying butterflies or indeed anyone just wanting to buy a lovely book while giving to an important cause.

I’ve been a member of Butterfly Conservation for a while now and my local branch in Cornwall has got a snazzy new website with links to their eBay shop (where you can buy the book, knowing that its for a super important cause!) as well as great resources and other info.

So, that’s it for this week…Thank you so much for checking out this review (I was actually a bit nervous about posting it) and I wish you a wondrous week ahead!

Ps. If you wanna check of Butterfly conservations website is butterfly-conservation.org