BUTTERFLY SUMMER

There have been a lot of butterflies around this summer and I love them all bar one - well 2 actually, but they get lumped together as one and are  hard to tell apart.  I’m talking about the Large and Small White cabbage butterflies.  I do feel mean to be at war with such beautiful creatures, but the damage their caterpillars do to every kind of brassica, except the kale (all hail the kale!) makes me not just mean, but teeth gnashingly murderous.  I have dismally failed again this year to stop the attack, despite using the correct gauge of netting - somehow they’re getting in, but once in, they often can’t get out again and I have been found there, scrunching them into fluttery pieces.  You’ll think I’m a terrible person now if you don’t grow cabbages etc, but if you do, then I know you’ll understand.  I think we get more of them down here in the south.  The small white is a native species, but the Large White travels over from Europe - apparently huge clouds of them can be seen drifting across the channel to feast on Kent cabbages...