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

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However, this good news is in contrast with what the long-term trends are revealing. Released for the first time this year, these show that since the Big Butterfly Count started 13 years ago, many species have significantly decreased. 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.. 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. For children who like books that deal with serious family issues, Moon Pie by Simon Mason is another fantastic read. Although fluidly written, this book is not an easy read. At all times I had the impression of getting tangled in the scattered thoughts of the author, caught up in millions of tiny string thoughts inside a room full with more. Did I want to be there? No.

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. Alas I'm afraid I didn't for some reason or other connect with the characters. The best I can say being I found myself intrigued with the mysterious elderly woman who, seeming to know many aspects of her life despite the fact they haven't met before, approaches Nina in the London Library. So, to sum up, some of Britain’s butterflies are enjoying the benefits of hotter-than-average summers – at least in the short term – while, as with all our wild creatures, they face an uncertain future in a rapidly changing world. One thing to commend the author on – although others may disagree – is the limit she put on romantic affairs. For me there was just the right amount of reference to these relationships to provoke the feeling of heartbrokenness yet not to detract from the main storyline.

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.

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.

Butterfly Field Guides

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!