Britain 'set for bumper year' for butterflies

A butterfly charity says the UK could be set for a "bumper" year of the insects as it launches its annual appeal for the public to count them.

Butterfly Conservation, based at East Lulworth, in Dorset, said the hot and dry spring meant it was already seeing an increase in several species.

On Friday, it launched its Big Butterfly Count, a yearly event asking members of the public to report the butterflies they see.

Dr Dan Hoare, director of nature recovery at Butterfly Conservation, said it was an opportunity for them to "colonise and reach out to new places".

"I have seen three or four species in the south of England... wandering away from their normal places," he said.

The Big Butterfly Count 2026 runs from 17 July to 9 August.

People are encouraged to choose a spot and count the butterflies and moths they see there for 15 minutes per day, logging it on the website or via the app.

The good news for butterflies was a sign other insect species may be thriving, said Prof Helen Roy, of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the University of Exeter.

She said the long-term fall in butterfly populations, dating back to the 1970s, had been driven by their habitats being destroyed or degraded.

Since then, however, she had been encouraged by initiatives such as No Mow May, which encourages people to let grassy areas grow wild, increasing the places for butterflies to feed and breed.

Roy said helping the butterflies could be as easy as leaving your garden to become "messy" and "diverse".

"If more and more of us create those havens, we'll have that kind of patchwork... all the way across the country," she said.

"I love to think that we can do that and help insects to thrive."