Bring on the butterflies

After a poor butterfly count, Val looks forward to the next…

- Val Bourne

ONE of the things that sustains me on a glum winter’s day is remembering the butterflies I saw last year. I’ve always loved butterflies, and I’m proud to say that my granddaughter Ellie, now almost 14, is wild about them, too. Coronavirus saw off our family trips last year, as we usually decamp with a picnic and Ellie’s dog if we think we’ll see a rare butterfly nearby. This year we’re off to the Fens in search of swallowtails in August – we hope!

Sadly, as time goes on, more and more once common butterflies seem to be getting rarer, and that’s one of the reasons I’m a member of Butterfly Conservation (butterfly-conservation. org), a charity that helps butterflies and moths. Membership costs you less per month than one fancy cup of coffee and there’s the chance to make friends, too.

Every year Butterfly Conservation does a Big Butterfly Count. Last year it was held between 17 July and 19 August, and it monitored 19 common species. The 2020 survey, the 11th one, recorded the lowest number of butterflies ever, at just 1.4 million. This was despite much more publicity from people like Chris Packham, with 145,000 people completing the survey.