Flying High

SPREAD YOUR WINGS WITH THIS YEAR'S BIG BUTTERFLY COUNT

Kirsten D'Angelo also wrote "No garden truly blooms until butterflies have danced upon it" and this year's Big Butterfly Count seems to have coincided perfectly with the flowering of my garden buddleia. But Butterfly Conservation count butterflies not only because they are beautiful creatures but because they're also vitally important as indicators of what's going on in our environment as a whole. The charity are asking you to 'take nature's pulse' by joining the world's largest butterfly survey and this year, now we're not in lockdown, you can also go further afield and record your sightings during a walk through a meadow or by a river or lake. Your data is crucial to helping conservationists assess the health of our natural world, the effects of climate change and where efforts should be targeted in the future.

For 15 minutes, on any sunny day between Friday 16th July and Sunday 8th August 2021, you're encouraged to protect our butterflies and other pollinators which are declining in the UK, by downloading Butterfly Conservation's butterfly ID chart, choosing a comfy spot and sitting, watching and recording (on the website or their app) which butterflies you see. (There are 18 species of common butterflies and two day-flying moths to 'tick' off). If you're on a walk, simply total up the number of butterfly species that you see during the allocated time. You can then keep abreast with the results on their interactive on-line map.

Last year, during lockdown, over 111,500 people took part and submitted 145,249 counts of butterflies and day-flying moths. One tip is not to leave it too late in the day as even if the weather's warm and sunny, butterfly sightings tail off in the late afternoon - and also not to be too disappointed if you don't see many, your information is still really vital.

For more information visit their website Here.