Bernard’s passion for butterflies began at the age of four, when his family moved to the countryside in Poppel, just a stone’s throw from the Dutch border. “My grandfather caught a butterfly and showed it to me. I thought it was wonderful,” recalls Bernard, who has lived in Tervuren since 1995.
Sixty years later, he now leads nature walks in and around Tervuren, pointing out species like the tau emperor moth, still to be found in the Sonian Forest and Tervuren Park. “You can see them flying now, especially around midday,” he says enthusiastically. But behind that passion lies a deep concern: “Since I started, butterfly numbers have fallen by 95 percent.”
Bernard blames this dramatic decline on intensive farming practices and the widespread use of pesticides. “Spraying a single hectare kills 600 kilos of earthworms and everything that depends on them,” he warns.
A passionate butterfly expert, Bernard has been raising the alarm for years about the disappearance of butterflies in Tervuren and across Belgium. Even with the Sonian Forest and the park as green sanctuaries, he observes how climate change and increasingly uniform ornamental gardens are threatening biodiversity.
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“Flowers like daffodils, tulips or forsythia, which you often see in Tervuren gardens, mean nothing to butterflies,” he explains. “Caterpillars don’t eat them, and butterflies don’t visit them.” Instead, he advocates planting species like spurge, vervain, buddleia and wild marjoram.
“If everyone in Tervuren planted those, it would really help the butterfly population,” Bernard insists. Caterpillars need specific host plants like nettles and bramble, which are increasingly disappearing due to intensive farming and neatly mown lawns. “There used to be dandelions in the fields, now they’re just green deserts,” he sighs.
Even the Sonian Forest isn’t spared. “Beeches suffer from heat and drought because of climate change,” Bernard cautions. “By 2100, the forest as we know it today will have almost entirely disappeared.” He calls for a gradual replacement of beech trees with more climate-resilient broadleaf species like oak, birch and maple. “Oak trees support 159 species of caterpillars, while spruce trees only host six. Diversity is vital — without it, this forest will become a desert.”
Despite it all, Bernard remains hopeful. “More and more people are showing interest in butterflies,” he observes. Through platforms like waarnemingen.be, he exchanges data with other nature enthusiasts, takes part in butterfly clubs, and offers advice on butterfly-friendly management practices as far away as France.
His message to Tervuren is crystal clear: plant butterfly-friendly flowers, support diverse woodland management and stop using pesticides. “Everyone has to do their part, or we’ll end up with no butterflies left.” In a municipality where nature and heritage go hand in hand, Bernard’s call sounds like an urgent wake-up call for biodiversity.
Auteur: Dafydd ab Iago. © Artikel en foto zijn gelicentieerd © 2024 voor Tervuren+ onder de Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International-licentie. Foto van mannelijke tauvlinder (Aglia tau): Harald Süpfle, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
