More butterflies counted at 'butterfly farmer' Eric Lamers' house

The Gelderlander edition Maasland published an interview with Eric Lamers of De Schutkooi in Vortum-Mullem on Jan. 26. In addition to being a dairy farmer, Eric is also a "butterfly farmer. Since Eric Lamers regularly keeps track of how many butterflies are fluttering around his yard, he has seen the number of butterflies counted increase significantly. Even though nationwide the number of butterflies has halved since the 1990s,

You can read why that is and what Eric Lamers does differently in the interview below by Frank Hermans, journalist for the Gelderlander. The interview is also attached as a pdf.

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Butterfly in distress, but not at milkman Eric's house

The number of butterflies in the Netherlands has halved since the 1990s. But dairy farmer Eric Lamers in Vortum-Mullem managed to turn the tide in recent years, according to counts on his farm. How did he do it?

Using so-called Led buckets, funnel buckets with an LED light as a decoy, farmer Eric Lamers has been catching moths at night, from April through September, once every three weeks since 2020. Not to set them up. "We release them in the morning, of course." But this is how he closely monitors the butterfly population on his farm.

Why does a dairy farmer start counting butterflies? Because, as an organic farmer, he puts nature first and the butterfly is a symbol of that. ,,Everyone thinks the butterfly is a nice animal," he says.

And, what turns out after three years of counting butterflies?

,,The first year, 2020, we caught 200 specimens; last year with 440 it was more than double. The number of species also went up significantly: from 90 to 160. If you consider that there are 2,400 species of moths, it's not that many yet. But it is very encouraging that the number has already gone up considerably."

And the diurnal butterflies?

,,We also saw these more often in counts, but during the day: in 2023 572 specimens. In my yard flew 21 of the 60 species in the Netherlands. But here the numbers say a little less, because weather conditions at the time of the counts play a bigger role."

You yourself had a hand in the increase?

,,It was small adjustments in the management of my land, but given the increase, I certainly suspect they are having an effect. I have seventy dairy cows. I no longer neatly maintained the pastures for grazing everywhere, but allowed them to become more wild in small areas. I have also touched up 'butterfly corners' less, for example hedges where you know butterflies can seek shelter. Along ditches I have trimmed less. The bottom line is that you leave the landscape more the way nature wants it."

And as an organic farmer, you don't use pesticides?

,,No, but I haven't done that for over twenty years. I have 85 acres of grassland, 15 acres of arable land where I grow corn for the cows. Instead of using crop dusters, I weed the weeds mechanically, immediately after sowing, so that they have not yet had a chance to sprout en masse. I also do the hoeing afterwards, which removes the young root threads of the weeds, with a machine. What I have been doing differently for a couple of years now: I keep 3 hectares separate where I let clover-like crops bloom, such as alfalfa. That is high in protein and therefore a good addition for the cows. As a result, there are suddenly a lot more bees on the land. I wouldn't be surprised if the butterflies also benefit from that."

Doesn't all sound very complicated. Why doesn't every farmer do that?

,,Because it does come at a price. With pesticides you control weeds faster and better. I am fortunate to be able to combine my dairy farm with a care farm with an average of seven clients per day, three cottages for tourist accommodation and small-scale catering. My farm is adjacent to Maasheggen. I was able to make good arrangements with the manager, Staatsbosbeheer. I have agreed to maintain the landscape less intensively, which costs me money because of the slightly lower harvest. But in return I get a compensation for creating a butterfly trail and educational elements for hikers and cyclists."

Sounds good, but nature-friendly management is so much more difficult for the average farmer?

,,Extensive farming is partly a piece of idealism, but I also think that the government should adapt the rules to this much more. This can be done with, for example, extra subsidies for farmers who do not use pesticides. I also expect that this will happen and that organic farming will make a huge advance within now and ten years. That's going to help the environment and also the butterflies tremendously."

More counted, but what does that say?

The spectacular increase at farmer Eric Lamers' farm does not seem representative of the whole of the Netherlands. It is true that the number of butterflies counted rose sharply in the national monitoring program (Farmers Insect Monitoring Agrarisch Gebied) in which Lamers participated: from 3611 (2019) to 25,830 (2023) moths and from 1405 (2019) to 5333 (2023) diurnal butterflies.

But it should be mentioned that in 2019, 22 farmers finally participated and in 2023, 125. Dividing the number of butterflies counted by the number of participants, there is a relatively small increase in the number of moths from 164 in 2019 to 179 in 2023. But also a decrease in the number of diurnal butterflies from 64 to 37.

According to (Z)LTO, the figures cannot yet be seen as indicative of whether or not butterfly numbers have increased or decreased. A spokesman: ,,To make good statements about that, long-term measurements are needed. Many species have a natural variation in population size and not every year can be compared to the next. The study therefore continues until 2027."

In any case, the increased number of participants shows, according to the initiators, that more and more farmers are becoming more environmentally aware and want to understand more about biodiversity. The figures are not biased because only eminently nature-friendly farmers would participate. "More than half of the participants are conventional farmers, a smaller proportion farms organically."