Review: The Butterflies of Christchurch Park

The Butterflies of Christchurch Park by Richard Stewart. Published 2016 by The Friends of Christchurch Park

This delightful small book is one of a series about Christchurch Park published by the Friends of the Park. Over twenty species of butterfly may be seen regularly in the park and some even spend some of their life cycle within its boundaries. Take this book with you when you visit the park: its colour photographs, mainly by Liz Cutting, make identification easy, but also keep it for use in any Ipswich garden. As soon as you enter Christchurch Park at its lower end, well within the town centre, there are favourable habitats for butterflies. A map of such habitats can be used to explore lesser known parts of the park. There are notes on creating a butterfly garden - reproduction and food being important, as one may have guessed. Brave readers of ‘Predation in the Park' will find that some species have their ‘young' (caterpillars!) eaten in their thousands by birds. The index (pages 79 and 80) shows how much is incorporated into this book, and there is the bonus of the author's haiku epilogue. Richard Stewart lives near the park, is an acknowledged authority on butterflies and shares his knowledge with us in this very readable book. Recommended at £7.50.

P.S. The subtitle of the book is Past, present and future. The clouded yellow butterfly is a definite possibility for the future. Will you spot them before Richard and his wife Anne-Marie - who themselves may sometimes be spotted in the park?

Bob Markham