Donal Hickey: Small white butterflies — a welcome sight

Some believe white butterflies are the spirit of a deceased loved one letting you know they're ok. And folk tradition says you should make a wish if you see two side by side

Small White butterfly — tradition says you should make a wish if you see two side by side. Picture: Butterfly Conservation/PA Wire

At last, it seems the recent warm spell, with temperatures hitting just over 30°C, lured out butterflies and bees — a welcome sight on sunny days.

Readers have been telling us how they noted, in particular, a sudden profusion of white butterflies... traditionally symbols of happiness, purity, good luck and general wellbeing. They’re elusive and flit around giddily, only stopping on flowers and plants for a little while.

There are several species of white butterflies and the one people are remarking on is most likely the small white, usually seen in gardens, hedgerows and meadows and normally highly visible in July/ August. I’m looking at one fluttering about right now.

In mythology, white butterflies were believed to be the spirits of a dead child or other deceased loved ones letting you know they’re in a better place.

Small White (Pieris rapae) — these butterflies are often associated with love and kindness.

You’ll notice pairs flying together — a courting ritual as the male pursues the female. Here again, the white is associated with love and kindness. Unsurprisingly then, folk tradition urges people to make a wish when they see two side by side.

There’s been a gradual decrease in the general butterfly population since the 1970s and, according to Butterfly Conservation Ireland (BCI), the small white declined by 78% between 2008 and 2024.

Reasons given for that include a loss of wild habitat, change of land use, pesticides and the impact of invasive plants.

Jesmond Harding: "The rampant weed, Montbretia, is a serious pest species, forming dense bands along hedgerows, eliminating all native herbs that butterflies, moths and other invertebrates require for their life cycles. This problem is increasingly acute, because of the increased relative biodiversity value of our native hedges and associated extended margins."

The BCI’s Jesmond Harding describes fast-spreading montbretia, now flowering prolifically along ditches, hedges and roadsides, as a ‘serious pest’. Calling for the eradication of orange-flowered montbretia, he says it eliminates native herbs that butterflies, moths and other creatures need for their lifecycles.

Every garden, big or small; schools, businesses, and public spaces can be used to help butterflies, says the National Biodiversity Data Centre which does regular research.

People can, for example, grow plants which provide nectar — the sugary water that gives butterflies energy to fly and find a mate. Ivy is valuable both as a food and provider of hibernation cover, as are honeysuckle, rambling rose and geraniums.

Those with bigger gardens are asked not to mow sections as grasses, wild plants and flowers are important to butterfly welfare.

A welcome development nowadays is that local authorities are allowing vegetation on road margins to grow, with ‘bee friendly’ signs popping up here and there, while wild meadows are also becoming a feature of national and local parks.

The 19th century English poet, William Wordsworth, captured people’s love of butterflies thus:

“Here rest your wings when they are weary;

Here lodge as in a sanctuary!

Come often to us, fear no wrong;

Sit near us on the bough."