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Time to count butterflies
A FEW precious moments spent watching a stunning red admiral or peacock butterfly feeding among the flowers in my garden never fails to bring me great pleasure,’ said Sir David Attenborough, ahead of this year’s Big Butterfly Count. The annual survey, which takes place from now until August 6, will once again call on participants to spend 15 minutes in an outdoor space during sunny conditions and count the types and number of butterflies they see.
However, this year’s count is particularly important, says organiser Butterfly Conservation (BC). Last year saw record high temperatures, heatwaves and drought, causing many of the plants that caterpillars feed on to wither and die, so scientists are keen to discover the ongoing impact of extreme weather. Butterflies are indicators of a healthy natural environment, says BC, and it’s never been more important to understand how our insects are responding to the changing climate.
‘This is a vital year for the Big Butterfly Count,’ says Zoë Randle, senior survey officer at BC. ‘We know that the previous extreme summer droughts in 1976 and 1995 took a heavy toll on butterflies and numbers crashed the following years, taking almost a decade to recover. The data collected during this year’s Big Butterfly Count will give us a valuable insight into what the effect of the most recent extreme
