MEET Ray Sandiford – the butterfly man!

Ray has been breeding the beautiful creatures for the past 40 years and his garden is home to more than 1,000 of them.

Now Ray, who lives in Breightmet, is encouraging others to help stop their decline in the wild. He says climate change, loss of habitat, parasitic flies and pesticides are contributing to the decline of the ‘flying flower’.

The 70-year-old said: “It has been the hardest year I have had in breeding. I breed the red admiral, comma, peacock and small tortoise shell. This is the first year I haven’t bred the peacock, I have not found a single caterpillar and there were very few small tortoise shells, not enough to breed. I think the reason is they like to breed on clumps of nettles and they are now being left to become overgrown with brambles and weeds or cut down.”

He added: “I am hoping to release around 750 to 800 red admirals and around 50 to 60 commas.”

Now he is encouraging people to recreate the habitats at home to encourage butterflies to once again become a common feature of gardens. Mr Sandiford said: “As well as breeding I have butterflies in my garden because I have old fruit for them and the plants. The butterflies I breed feed on nettles and people can grow nettles in a tub, so they don’t start overgrowing in the garden. Plants, lilac and pink, will attract the butterflies.”

He added: “By breeding the butterflies, they have more chance of survival, especially against the parastic flies which are laying their eggs in the female caterpillar. Butterfly eggs are at risk as soon as they are laid so I can take those risks away.” As well as asking people to help increase the number of butterflies, Mr Sandiford, is asking people record any caterpillars they see. He said: “I am planning to doing walks to show people the different butterflies.This month I am releasing butterflies in butterfly, which I want people to come and see and get involved with.”

To get involved email j.melia2@ntlworld.com