SHE’S banged the drum for the Gurkhas, she’s the ambassador for an initiative to combat climate change and waste, but most recently, actress and keen gardener Joanna Lumley has turned her attentions to the plight of the humble butterfly.

Backing this year’s Big Butterfly Count, the world’s biggest survey of butterflies organised by Butterfly Conservation and Marks & Spencer, Lumley said: “I’ve been fascinated by butterflies ever since being brought up in the Far East where they were,like many things there, huge, bright and extraordinary.

“The great heart break is to see how few there are today.Looking out on my garden now,I’m not seeing any.This huge, scientific survey is actually counting the effect of mankind up on the natural world.”

The public is being asked to take 15 minutes to participate in the count, which runs from July 20 to August 11 (prime time for butterfly activity), to help identify trends in species that will aid us in planning how to protect butterflies from extinction, as well as understanding the effect of climate change on wildlife.

Butterflies react very quickly to change in their environment, which makes them excellent biodiversity indicators. Butterfly declines are an early warning for other wildlife losses. Almost three-quarters of UK butterfly species have decreased in population during the last decade, while the number of UK’s larger moths has crashed in the past 40 years, according to a group of conservation organisations.

“The predictions are that numbers will be down again this year,” says Butterfly Conservation surveys manager Richard Fox.

“As butterflies had such a bad year last year because of the wet weather,it’s likely that fewer offspring will emerge.

This year’s cold spring shouldnot have affectednumbers because cold snaps tend to happen when butterflies are dormant, so the insects simply come out later.

Lumley’s own London garden, with its wild area of meadow planting at the end, should be a haven for butterflies, but she has seen few this year, despite nailing a moth over wintering box,featuring a nectar column, onto her pear tree.

She said: “Like the bees, there’s something catastrophic happening.

Something we are doing is wrong.I suspect we have to blame it on our methods of farming, but I think it’s also down to our way of living, getting rid of gardens and putting down decking, paving and tarmac, treating our vehicles as more important than our creatures.”

HOW TO ATTRACT BUTTERFLIES TO YOUR GARDEN

  • Choose sunny, sheltered spots when planting nectar plants, because butterflies like warmth.
  • Select different plants to attract a wider variety of species.
  • Prolong flowering by deadheading regularly, mulching with organic compost and watering well.
  • Don’t use insecticides and pesticides which kill butterflies and many pollinating insects.
  • Grow plants which will attract butterflies including buddleia, verbena,lavender, marjoram, phlox, nasturtium, aster, sweet rocket and lobelia, and herbs such as chives, thyme and mint.