With weather that can only be described as ‘summer’ comes flowers in their full glory, and with the flowers come our little fluttery pollinator friends – butterflies. But they are not only good at pollinating, and of course being lovely to look at, they are also a reflection of the health of an ecosystem. They are very sensitive to environmental change, and due to their position in the food chain, declines in their populations are inherently detrimental to other species in the ecosystem such as birds. Unfortunately, these colourful little creatures have been in decline considerably since the 1970s.
Now obviously stopping sweeping environmental change is somewhat out of our hands as individuals, but if you have a spare 15 minutes, there is something you can do to help. Every year, Butterfly Conservation runs the Big Butterfly Count. This is a citizen science project anyone can get involved with, simply by sitting or walking for 15 minutes and recording all the different species you spot. These can then be recorded on their website or via their handy app. In 2020, a huge 111500 people took part throughout the UK!
This year, the count is running from Friday 16th July – Sunday 8th of August. You can take part as many times as you like, so let’s help Butterfly Conservation beat last year’s total!
Find out more about taking part here: https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/about
Fran Lant
Admin and Marketing Apprentice