Country diary: The butterflies are returning to the bush, one by one | Derek Niemann

Sandy, Bedfordshire: Buddleia works so hard to provide, yet so few butterflies are here to take advantageIs it time to call last orders on the showy plant long celebrated as the butterfly bush? The purple darling of wildflower gardening peaks in August, and in summers past we would rush to the nearest buddleia when the clouds parted to lose ourselves in trying to tally up moving objects.In Flora Britannica, published in 1996, Richard Mabey boasted the regular appearance of more than 50 butterflies of 10 species on a single bush in his Chilterns garden. That figure did not then seem outlandish. Red admirals, peacocks, small tortoiseshells and anything else with a proboscis would flutter in to taste Buddleja davidii's irresistible nectar. Each plant threw out dozens of spikes, each spike held hundreds of tiny flowers. And each butterfly would sip, circle, and sip again. Continue reading...