The Joy of Counting Butterflies in the Beautiful 4Bs

Hi, I’m Alireza, a 28-year-old medical doctor from Iran, living here in the heart of the Surrey Hills for a few months, looking for my first job in the UK. You may have come across the name of my hometown on a warm, lazy Sunday afternoon with a glass of the finest “Shiraz Red Wine” in your hand, or while reading the emotional poems of the 14th-century Persian poet “Hafiz”. You might also recognize it as the location of “Persepolis”, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. But for Iranians, Shiraz is the heartland of Persian culture and poetry and Shirazis believe that this is because of the influence of nature and the wonderful paradise gardens of Shiraz in ancient and even more recent times. There is nothing more intoxicating than the aroma of flowers lifting from the breeze around April and the rivers and the gardens inspired Hafiz to become a poet and a mystic. It is said that Shirazis became calm, kind, emotional and poetic people because they lived close to nature at its best.
 
I clearly recall my childhood feelings of joy when being around those rivers and gardens, but sadly now many of its famous gardens have long since disappeared. Our climate has become hotter and drier and there has been a rapid and significant decrease in groundwater levels as they have become depleted, resulting in the drying out of the beautiful vineyards. What is more profound is that I think without our nature we have lost the essence of Shiraz.
 
It’s hard for you to imagine losing the green and pleasant land that I am enjoying everyday. But I have witnessed the changes around my own home in my own lifetime and I'm worried about the future for this fertile landscape which I now regard as my home in the UK. It makes me happy to do something to help preserve nature so that others in the future might also experience what I am feeling.
 
I’m naturally inquisitive and try to learn wherever I am. Coming to England is truly life changing as I encounter and try to understand each new experience and situation. Everyday I am appreciating and feeling the natural beauty of this place, enjoying hikes around Box Hill, nice strolls and bike rides down to the gently flowing River Mole in Brockham and Betchworth, and contemplating the beautiful Buckland Pond. But how could I have known even a few months ago that I would be learning about English butterflies using the Big Butterfly Count App or know that I would be out today counting butterflies around a place called ‘Betchworth Castle’. There is something magical about the colours and unpredictable wanderings of butterflies that brings me joy and as I try patiently to catch one of them in a photograph I feel immersed in nature.
 
Counting butterflies can be so much more than discovering a number- the act invites us to immerse ourselves in the meaning of nature and being consumed by its wonder. Our great Persian poet Rumi gets quite close to this meaning in his
poem where he likens the way people behave to butterflies.

‘Poem Of The Butterflies’
The people of this world are like the three butterflies in front of a candle's flame.
The first one went closer and said:I know about love.
The second one touched the flame lightly with his wings and said:
I know how love's fire can burn.
The third one threw himself into the heart of the flame and was consumed.
They alone know what true love is.
Rumi (1207-1273)
 
Perhaps this poem has relevance to the act of counting butterflies. We can approach the task as simply observing and recording a number. Or dive a bit deeper by learning more about butterflies and their habits. But we also have the possibility of immersing ourselves into the heart of the flame that is the wonder and spirit of nature of which we are a part.

Here are some of the photos I have taken while out counting butterflies

---