'Eeej, look what we have over here!' Cecilie wants to turn Samsø into a butterfly island

Cecil Rye Olsen lives on Samsø, where she and her neighbors are on a specific mission.

And no, it's neither about letting gardens grow wild with everything they contain, nor about creating a communal defense against theft.

"Ooh, look what we have over here!" Cecil Rye Olsen interrupts herself as she shows the garden to podcast host Signe Lindkvist, who is visiting for an episode of the DR program 'Signes Have'.

"Can you see? I think it's a scarce copper. Oh, how beautiful it is!"

"A scarce copper?" asks Signe Lindkvist in a tone that makes it clear that stringing those letters together doesn't come naturally to her lips.

It can be hard to tell, but here it is actually Queen Mary's hand trying to introduce the scarce copper butterfly species in connection with a nature project in 2025. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

"It looks almost like a leopard," Lindkvist observes.

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'We are riding a common wave'

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The spotted butterfly that interrupts the conversation is actually what Cecil Rye Olsen's entire mission is about. Since last year, she and many others have been busy transforming Samsø into a butterfly island, where there are now over 100 registered gardens, each doing their part to attract new butterflies by actively planting specific plants.

Cecil Rye Olsen hopes to inspire others to join in—and entices the neighborhood street along. (© Carsten Bruhn-Henriksen)

The goal is that each garden patch becomes part of a vast habitat for the Danish butterfly population, many of whose native species are either threatened, vulnerable, or completely gone, according to the Danish Society for Nature Conservation.

"We are riding a common wave of wanting more butterflies," says Cecil Rye Olsen.

The islanders are clearly not the only ones fascinated by butterflies. At least, the book 'Inden året er omme' (Before the Year Is Over), in which Lea Korsgaard describes her journey to spot all of Denmark's day-flying butterflies in one year, has been on Bog & Idé's bestseller list over the summer.

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Focus on two types of plants

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If you want to get started in your own garden, there are two types of plants you need to get your hands on. One type is nectar plants, from which adult butterflies drink nectar.

The other important type to acquire is host plants, on which butterflies can breed. This is where eggs are laid, and it is also the plants that the caterpillars eat.

"We've always had many butterflies in the garden, but I never thought it was connected to whether you have the right host plants," says Cecil Rye Olsen.

Near Nordby Bakker on Samsø. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

The orange-tip butterfly, for example, primarily uses the host plant cuckooflower (lady's smock) for breeding.

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Why are butterflies under pressure?

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According to the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, the two main reasons are:

* There are too few habitats for them. There used to be space for many different butterfly species, but today areas like fields, forests, and gardens are too uniform and have few plants.

* Too much pesticide and fertilizer is used in gardens.

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Get the neighborhood street on board?

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Cecil Rye Olsen hopes to inspire you to get your neighbor or your street on board with the idea of recalling the butterflies.

"Together, you create a larger habitat. And that's also what I hope to inspire, by showing that there are over 100 gardens that have now signed up for the butterfly island."

This provides a huge number of host and nectar plants for the butterflies, and also the opportunity for neighbors to make joint purchases of plants, she explains.

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Six butterfly-friendly perennials

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These perennials can serve as both host plants and provide nectar for butterflies and bees:

* Common knapweed

* Field scabious

* Purple loosestrife

* Oxeye daisy

* Bird's-foot trefoil

* Yarrow

Source: Danish Society for Nature Conservation

Cecil Rye Olsen suggests that neighbors get together to make a list of which host plants they have. Are there two or three butterflies you particularly want to focus on?

The host plants don't have to be the same in every garden.

She also concedes that it's not just about butterflies—also insects and other things—but that the narrow focus "is powerful."

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.