Episode 4

Lea Korsgaard searches for all of Denmark’s butterfly species in one year. She discovers secret places and learns about the rich natural and symbolic history of butterflies.

Butterflies are an intrinsic part of the ecosystem, pollinating plants and acting as food for larger creatures. Their existence is entwined with the plant life and landscapes they make home, but habitats are reducing and with this, butterfly populations are under threat.

Learning about the potential loss of habitat and butterflies, journalist Lea Korsgaard goes on a quest to see all of Denmark’s 64 butterfly species in a single year.

She is a butterfly novice, but over the course of the year, she learns about the extraordinary facts of butterfly metamorphosis, meets passionate experts who show her the secret places where butterflies still proliferate and finds out about the history of collectors for whom butterflies had become an obsession. She finally learns that she has become as hooked as the experts she has met.

In this episode, Lea discovers that over the course of history, some lepidopterists became obsessional about collecting. She discovers the symbolic meaning of butterflies in mythology, and their place in different cultures from pre-Colombian to Japan. As she ticks of many more butterflies on the list, her journey takes her in search of some of the rarest butterflies, to discover they are rare for a reason. Habitats are disappearing and with them, the insect life, specifically butterflies that makes it their home. Has she missed her chance to see the Danish butterfly species that are fast disappearing?

Read by Nicola Walker
Abridged by Sara Davies
Produced by Lisa Lipman
Sound design by Jon Calver
Executive producer: Jo Rowntree
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4