Butterfly count 'disappointing' despite record summer heat

CONSERVATIONISTS said a nation-wide butterfly count has yielded disappointing results, despite hopes that the record hot summer might have helped to offset decades of declining numbers.

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The Big Butterfly Count, organised by wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation over three weeks in the summer, gets members of the public to spend 15 minutes recording the butterflies they see in their garden, park or countryside.

It comes as part of efforts to track butterfly species, which have suffered declines of more than 80% in the UK since the 1970s, due to factors such as damage to their habitats, climate change and the use of pesticides.

Butterflies are most active and commonly seen during the summer months, which provide the warm, sunny conditions they need for flight, feeding and reproduction.

Last year's wet spring and cool summer contributed to the lowest numbers in the count’s 14-year history, with a record number of counts seeing no butterflies at all, and familiar species such as small whites, common blues and small tortoiseshells having their worst summer ever.

While numbers were much higher compared with 2024, Butterfly Conservation said 2025 was still not a bumper year despite the warm and sunny conditions, and that urgent measures are still needed to reverse the long-term decline.

Between July 18 and August 10 this year, a record of more than 125,000 citizen scientists took part in the count, recording 1.7 million butterflies and moths.

The top species spotted were large white, small white, gatekeeper, red admiral and meadow brown.

On average, participants recorded 10.3 butterflies during each 15-minute count, which comes as a marked improvement from last summer's record low of just seven.