The Great Butterfly Watch

Doing Our Bit For Butterflies

Sir David Attenborough is calling on the public to help reverse butterfly declines by taking part in the world’s largest butterfly survey. The Big Butterfly Count encourages people to spot and record 18 species of common butterflies and two day-flying moths during three weeks of high summer.

Anyone can take part - simply count butterflies for 15 minutes during bright (preferably sunny) weather during the event, which runs from Friday 14 July to Sunday 6 August. The results help see how butterflies are faring across the UK.

This nationwide survey is aimed at helping assess the health of our environment. It was launched in 2010 and has rapidly become the world's biggest survey of butterflies.

Over 36,000 people took part in 2016, counting almost 400,000 individual butterflies and day-flying moths across the UK.

Sir David Attenborough has warned that UK butterflies face a critical summer after a string of poor years has seen the numbers of many common species decline.

Last year was the fourth worst on record for butterflies and Sir David is urging the public to take part in the Big Butterfly Count survey to help reveal if widespread species can mount a comeback this summer.

Common species such as the Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper experienced declines in 2016 but the warm, dry spring and early summer heatwave experienced over much of the UK has given many species a head start. 

Butterfly Conservation President Sir David said: “The next few weeks are a vital period for our butterflies. They need to make the most of this chance to feed and breed. So far the warm weather has given some species like the Meadow Brown, Red Admiral and Ringlet a good start but butterflies really need this to continue.

“Last year, despite a warm summer, butterflies like the Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper saw their numbers fall as a warm winter and cold spring earlier in the year led to problems that affected their numbers later on.

This is a great way for everyone to take an active interest in our environment and if possible even help by planting flowers in your garden or containers that will encourage Butterflies. We are proud to say that on Whitby Holiday Park we are doing just that, and when you look around you will see all the wonderful flowers that are planted throughout the park hopefully attracting more and more Butterflies and Bees each year. Fingers crossed the numbers keep increasing.