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.
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!
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 😢
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! 🦋🤣
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