{"id":67542,"date":"2024-04-24T15:19:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T20:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67542"},"modified":"2024-04-24T15:19:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T20:19:19","slug":"letting-your-grass-grow-wild-boosts-butterfly-numbers-uk-study-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67542","title":{"rendered":"Letting Your Grass Grow Wild Boosts Butterfly Numbers, UK Study Says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Letting Your Grass Grow Wild Boosts Butterfly Numbers, UK Study Says<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Butterflies benefit when grass grows long, researchers say. simonkr \/ iStock \/ Getty Images Plus<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Have you ever noticed that\u00a0meadows<\/a>\u00a0of long\u00a0grass<\/a>\u00a0seem to be teeming with butterflies,\u00a0bumble bees<\/a>, beetles, crickets and other\u00a0insects<\/a>? Meanwhile, short-cropped, bright green\u00a0lawns<\/a>\u00a0appear devoid of critters in comparison.<\/p>\n

A six-year study of butterfly sightings in 600 gardens in the United Kingdom has confirmed that letting your lawn grow wild can significantly increase butterfly and moth numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNature is in crisis; 80% of butterflies have declined since the 1970s, so we need to take action now to protect them. We wanted to be able to give tried and tested\u00a0gardening<\/a>\u00a0advice that will benefit butterflies as we know lots of people want to help. This study proves, for the first time, that allowing a patch of grass to grow long will attract more butterflies into your garden,\u201d said\u00a0Dr. Richard Fox<\/a>, co-author of the study and head of science at UK nonprofit Butterfly Conservation, in a press release from the charity.<\/p>\n