July is the month when many adult butterflies emerge from their chrysalis ready to mate and carry the species forward, that is why it is time for the world’s largest citizen science butterfly survey, the Sid Valley Biodiversity Group invites you all to take part in Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count 2025.
Now in its fifteenth year, the count involves thousands of people across the country enjoying the sight of butterflies and day flying moths such as the Burnet Moth in their gardens, local parks and countryside and doing a simple count of what they see.
It is easy to take part, just spend 15 minutes on a warm sunny day counting how many butterflies you can see, you can be walking in your favourite countryside or sitting in a deckchair in your garden, what’s not to like? Butterfly Conservation provides an identification chart of the twenty butterflies and moths in the survey and they ask you to enter the results onto a simple online form or through a very helpful app. Of course, you can do more than one count, last year I enjoyed twenty nine sessions on my country walks during which I recorded 547 butterflies and moths.
Unsurprisingly, I saw the most in places like The Byes and Delderfield Nature Reserve, but it is just as important from a scientific point of view to record what is happening in people’s gardens because that is where most of us can do something to help. One thing to think about is that many people grow flowers to feed the butterflies with nectar, but fewer people have plants that will feed the caterpillars, fewer caterpillars, fewer butterflies.
The whole point of the survey is to track how the national butterfly populations are faring. There are fluctuations from year to year and the weather is the most significant short term factor. Last year’s cold wet spring really hit the numbers of caterpillars that made it to adulthood. People are saying there are a lot of butterflies around already, but that is compared to last year. If you were able to compare with fifty years ago, I think you will find it isn’t good news.
Compared to fifty years ago, all the evidence suggests there has been a big drop in the numbers of insects of most types in the UK because of changes to our environment, and butterflies are a convenient group to use almost like canaries in the coal mine to give a warning that something is wrong.
What is consistent is the identity of the top species, with Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers in the countryside and Peacocks and Red Admirals in town. All easy to spot and to identify even if you do need the chart.
Why not join us this year and do your bit to further our understanding while also having a pleasant experience. The main count begins on Friday 18th July and runs for three weeks, but some people have already started. There is more information on the Big Butterfly Count website https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org.
SVBG is a not for profit organisation dependant on volunteers, grants and donations. Without funding we cannot operate and many of our biodiversity projects will cease.
Even the smallest donation can make a difference to wildlife such as the kingfisher on our logo.
The easiest way to donate a small sum is to click here to Donate
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