Big Butterfly Count 2024

This important Citizen Science project started on the 12th July and finishes on the 4th August. Further details can be found on the Butterfly Conservation website. From conversations with people in different parts of the UK, butterfly sightings have been very low this year. We have seen remarkably few in the garden; even the cabbage whites have been largely absent. It is imperative, therefore, that citizen scientists submit as many reports as possible to the 2024 Big Butterfly Count so we can understand what is happening. I suggest that, no matter where you are, if you spot an identifiable butterfly then please spend the next 15 minutes counting how many you see and what type. Report your findings on-line, here.

I took this photo of a common brimstone butterfly yesterday (17/7/24) in our garden ...

Photo 1: Common Brimstone in Our Back Garden

... though you might have some difficulty spotting it. Fortunately, it was the male butterfly with its distinctive butter yellow colour (possibly the reason for the butterfly name).

Photo 2: Enlarged Close-up of the Common Brimstone (extracted from Photo 1)

This is quite an unusual sighting both for our garden and for this time of the year (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Common Brimstone Lifecycle (h/t Butterfly Conservation)

Today (18/7/24) we visited Arthur's Stone (more on that in another blog) and, afterwards, walked on to Merbach Hill and Common. Mary was keen to see the harebells that had been plentiful on a previous visit in 2021. We were largely disappointed on that front with just these two specimens on show.

Photo 3: Harebells on Merbach Common/Hill (July 2024)

Fortunately, from a butterfly point of view there were a number of meadow brown and marbled white butterflies displaying their flying prowess. No photographs as the butterflies refused to stay still for long enough!