A huge thank you to everyone who took part in this year's Big Butterfly Count. Butterflies and moths are excellent indicators of the impacts of climate change and other human environmental factors, so collecting data on their numbers is really important.
As a result of the records Butterfly Conservation received, they now know that last year's drought hasn't been as bad for butterflies as they had feared. The wetter summer experienced across most of the UK this year has helped our butterflies, as there have been more nectar sources for the adult butterflies and food plants available for caterpillars.
Over 1.5 million of these beautiful insects were recorded during this year's Big Butterfly Count – more butterflies were spotted than over the last four years!
But there is also some alarming news revealed by the survey's long-term trends. Over the last 13 years of Big Butterfly Count, many species of butterflies have significantly declined. Species loss is happening in our own backyard. Plenty of common British butterflies are in real trouble. Protecting butterflies and moths is now more urgent than ever!