While Sir Winston Churchill is renowned as a great war leader and politician, far less is known about one of his gentler pursuits – butterflies.
But now the National Trust has recreated his efforts to breed butterflies at what was his family home – Chartwell in Kent.
The Trust has re-established the butterfly house Churchill set up in the 1940s in a converted summerhouse, and the first insects for more than 50 years emerged this summer.
According to National Trust conservation adviser Matthew Oates, Churchill’s love of butterflies started when he was at prep school in the 1880s, when collecting the insects was extremely popular. Although his butterfly collection appears to be lost, it is known his interest continued when he was abroad as a young man in India and South Africa.
And in 1939 “just as the storm clouds were gathering over the world”, he telephoned leading butterfly breeding expert Hugh Newman for advice on setting up a butterfly house to breed and release the insects in the garden, Mr Oates said.
Unsurprisingly the plans were put on hold during World War II, but after the war was won, the summerhouse was converted with muslin over the door and a bench installed for the breeding cages in which caterpillars and pupae develop.
Now visitors to Chartwell can again see the butterfly house, walk along the butterfly walk and follow in the footsteps of guests at Churchill’s famous garden parties – for which he may have wanted to fill the garden with butterflies.
Mr Oates said the National Trust had decided to restore the butterfly house and breed insects there to add to the experience of visiting the former Prime Minister’s home in Kent.
“It is also because we believe very much that wildlife, including the delightful aspects like butterflies and songbirds, are an integral part of the garden experience.
“Without them our gardens would be lacking in a crucial dimension.”
And he added: “People like butterflies, even great warleaders.” In addition to set-ting up the breeding house, Churchill also sought advice on which plants to establish in the garden in order to attract butterflies, and planted buddleia borders which are still in the garden.
Today, the hillside gardens attract species including common blue butterflies, gatekeepers and meadow browns.
According to Mr Oates, the “butterfly borders” may be the oldest surviving examples of such planting in the country.
“I would argue very strongly Churchill was a pioneer wildlife gardener, and view him as a bit of a champion of wildlife and butterflies.”
But the National Trust’s approach today does differ from Churchill’s butterfly breeding in that only species naturally found in the area around Chartwell have been released. Nowadays only British butterflies can be bred for release in the UK, and the National Trust’s efforts have seen species including peacocks and painted ladies emerge this year.
Other local species of butterfly being bred include small tortoiseshell and red admiral, and there are plans to breed cabbage whites.
In Churchill’s time, there were attempts to establish the extinct black-veined white and the non-native European swallowtail butterfly.
But both bids were scuppered by Chartwell’s gardeners who cut down the hawthorn and fennel plants on which the butterflies were breeding.