For all you walking critter lovers …. „Big Butterfly Count“ 14 July to 6th August

[CBDB]

Just a quick note that I realised that the UK nationwide Big Butterfly Count has started today. It’s a citizen science scheme where just the task of taking 15 min in a garden or sunny surroundings to count as many butterflies as you see, helps survey the health of the species. There is an app with identification pictures and a downloadable chart.

It seems the perfect thing to do on a walking break, a picnic or when you find yourself resting within a sunny meadow, or also in your own garden. You can do the 15 minute counts as often as you want.

It’s run by the Butterfly Conservation Society but you do not need to be a member.

Link here : bigbutterflycount.butterfly...

[Rachmaninov2]

Thank you for the info. and link CBDB, I am going to do the 15 minute count. Here’s a photo of a butterfly I saw in my garden yesterday.

Butterfly, I think it’s a Gatekeeper.

[CBDB Administrator in reply to Rachmaninov2]

what a beauty!

[Gthants]

Great info! Did this last year in our garden and had forgotten, but will do again. We were counting moths on our lavender the other night - it was swarming!

[CBDB Administrator in reply to Gthants]

👍🏽👏🦋

[Beatlesforever]

Thanks for the reminder CBDB. I do this every year 🦋😍

[CBDB Administrator in reply to Beatlesforever]

that’s amazing! First time this year for me! 👍🏽👏🦋

[Over60sRunner 1000miles per year]

Thank you for the reminder 😁 I knew it was around this time and strangely enough had mentioned to a friend only yesterday that I should look it up because of the very few butterflies that I've seen so far this year. Our garden is absolutely full of Buddleia and we usually have masses of butterflies visiting as they start to flower, but over the last few years they sadly seem to be declining, as do the bees for the last couple of years as well 😢

I'll start reporting now 😊 🦋🦋😊

[CBDB Administrator in reply to Over60sRunner]

that’s brilliant. Yes, everyone seems to talk about having seen less critters this year.

We left our lawn to go meadow-y and we feel we have actually seen an increase in critters.

(although we used to have bats some years back, and they seem to be gone. 🤔)

[ToothPickJafah 500miles per year]

I’ve hardly seen any butterflies in my garden! Seen quite a few moths but I’m now going to look extra diligently for flutterbys 🦋🤗💜🥰

[CBDB Administrator in reply to ToothPickJafah]

👍🏽🦋

[Iwilldothisthisyear 1000miles per year]

I have been doing a separate count with my local Wildlife trust for the last couple of weeks

Marbled White

[CBDB Administrator in reply to Iwilldothisthisyear]

Nice!

[Iwilldothisthisyear 1000miles per year in reply to CBDB]

Thank you . Normally they are too quick for me to take a photo of them .

[CBDB Administrator]

There is still time to do a butterfly count!

I’ve done two now and at the first one, I spotted lots, with 5 different species! 2 weeks later, I could only spot two.

The butterflies I spotted on 15 June

[Rachmaninov2]

Sorry, not a Comma but a Gatekeeper. Will repost.

[Rachmaninov2]

Seen lots of Gatekeeper butterfly’s this year.

Gatekeeper butterfly.

[CBDB Administrator in reply to Rachmaninov2]

LOL 😂 😃 Gatekeeper, check! Still, what a beauty!

[Rachmaninov2 in reply to CBDB]

Note to myself, make sure you are fully awake before posting!😴

[CBDB Administrator]

A bit of fun: just spotted a group of rare Monarch Butterflies in my virtual Zwift environment, on the Watopia map! Quite difficult to catch in this virtual environment (hitting the screenshot button) as it is in real life! 🤣

They were accompanying me down the hill, whilst I was indoor rowing my running avatar (I know … long story).

Once spotted, I just had to see if I could identify the type of butterfly! And yes, it looks like it’s a Monarch!

But as Watopia doesn’t exist, I guess I cannot count it in the Big Butterfly Count! 🦋🤣

Monarch butterfly in virtual Watopia?