The Big Butterfly Count
There are just a few days left to join the Big Butterfly Count – feeling inspired, the Arran Natural History Society recently spotted these beautiful Heath butterflies:
Do you know your large heaths from your small heaths?
Large heaths are on the wing just now but have a short flight period. They are slightly bigger than the small heath and don’t rest with their wings open. The large heath has several eye spots (the small heath has just one). Large heaths are a moorland species, they weave about the purple moor grass, feed on cross-leaved heath and lay eggs on hare’s tail cotton grass.
Small heaths are abundant in the lower glens, fields and shoreline.
Butterfly Conservation are doing a Big Butterfly Count just now that you can join in https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/
It takes just 15 minutes and you can download an identification sheet to help you and only includes the more common butterflies. Why not give it a go!
About the Big Butterfly Count
The Big Butterfly Count is a nationwide citizen science survey aimed at helping us assess the health of our environment. It was launched in 2010 and has rapidly become the world’s biggest survey of butterflies. Over 64,000 citizen scientists took part in 2022, submitting 96,257 counts of butterflies and day-flying moths from across the UK.
Between Friday 12th July and Sunday 4th August choose a place to spot butterflies and moths. All the counts can be viewed on the interactive map.
Why count butterflies?
We count butterflies because not only are they beautiful creatures to be around but they are also extremely important. They are vital parts of the ecosystem as both pollinators and components of the food chain. However, they are under threat. Numbers of butterflies and moths in the UK have decreased significantly since the 1970s. This is a warning that cannot be ignored.
Butterfly declines are also an early warning for other wildlife losses. Butterflies are key biodiversity indicators for scientists as they react very quickly to changes in their environment. Therefore, if their numbers are falling, then nature is in trouble. So tracking numbers of butterflies is crucial in the fight to conserve our natural world. That’s why taking part in this massive citizen science enterprise is of great importance not just for our butterflies but for the wider environment and biodiversity in general.
The data from this and other counts will also help us to identify important trends in species that will assist us in planning how to protect butterflies from extinction, as well as understanding the effect of climate change on wildlife.
For more information on how to take part see the website here
