Butterflies in Paddington
Elegant, graceful and bursting with colour and style, the butterfly is arguably one of the most delightful creatures on the planet and PaddingtonNow BID is pleased to welcome you to find out more about the two stunning topiary butterflies in Norfolk Square Gardens.
Project Overview
Encouraging a healthy environment has always been a top priority for PaddingtonNow BID. The Norfolk Square Butterfly Garden was created to improve biodiversity in Paddington and in doing so encourage better air quality for people to enjoy.
The garden was designed to be colourful and eye catching and attract more people, as well as butterflies! to enjoy the outdoor space in Norfolk Square Gardens. Nature is a healer and we wanted to give people another reason to sit outside and soak up the happy vibes.
At the same time, it was important to educate people on the importance of biodiversity and how nature can improve our quality of life. We wanted to once again shine a light on Paddington for its dedication to fostering a thriving local environment.
It was for these reasons the BID was able to secure funding for the project in 2020 through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) with support from Westminster City Council and the Hyde Park Paddington Neighbourhood Forum.
The BID worked with Agrumi Bespoke Topiary to design the butterflies and plan the surrounding planting. We are also working with Big City Butterflies to encourage butterflies to the area and will continue to work with them over the coming years to monitor species and numbers through butterfly surveys.
Did you know that butterflies can indicate how good the air quality is?
These beautiful and fascinating creatures are not just important in their own right, but are also indicators of a healthy environment for all wildlife.
Much like their real-life counterparts, these topiary butterflies are not just for show and their garden has been designed specifically to attract more butterflies and insects to play their very important roles in our ecosystem, including pollination and natural pest control.
Britain has 59 resident species of butterfly, but with these numbers rapidly declining it’s now more important than ever to encourage them to thrive in nature and in doing so improve the environment we live and work in. Find out more here.
How to Record Butterflies
You can record butterflies in any place at any time. Big City Butterflies is most interested in records from urban greenspaces, but they gratefully receive all records.
Because different species are active at different times of year, they recommend recording at the same place at least three times between May and September, with at least a month between recording trips. But you can record as little or as often as you like – the more records the better.
Download the Google Play iRecord Butterfly App for Android.
Download the Apple store iRecord Butterfly App for Apple devices.
APP
Download the free iRecord Butterflies app (available for Android and Apple devices) to record on the go. Please let us know if you are using the app so your records are assigned to the Brilliant Butterflies Project.
PAPER
If preferred, you can submit records to us on paper forms. Email us using the details below, and we’ll send more information.
Get Involved PaddingtonNow
The BID hope to encourage people who live and work in the area to take part in recording butterflies and will be planning some educational sessions on this in the future. If you would like to take part, check in with us and please email askus@paddingtonnow.co.uk
Find out more about PaddingtonNow Business Improvement District here www.paddingtonnow.co.uk