Butterfly numbers recover in 2013

A survey published last week shows that the sunny summer we had in 2013 enabled British butterflies to bounce back from a crash in their numbers in 2012 - after a number of cold damp summers. 

I certainly noticed more butterflies in the garden last year - but not as many as there were back in the 1970s.  Like white dog poo, they were all over in the summer, back then.  We even had them in our crisp packets!  

Tudor Crips (which I think were the previous name for Walker crisps) used to have some great free gifts in their packets. 

I don't think it's allowed nowadays for health and safety reasons - choking hazard!  

I remember one of my friends collected the full range which his parents had mounted in a frame and hung on their living room wall.  

Interesting butterfly fact:  they are called butterflies because their shit looks yellowy - like butter. This comes from the old Dutch for butterfly which is buttershite