It may not have been a bumper summer for butterflies, but the UK public defied the cold, wet weather to make big butterfly count 2015 the biggest ever.
Impressive new records for big butterfly count participation were set. Over 52,000 people took part in the 2015 event, smashing the previous high of 46,400 in 2013. For the first time over 50,000 counts were submitted (map of 2015 counts) via the website and free smartphone apps, from St James’s Park in central London to Sutherland. We also had the highest ever big butterfly count effort on a single day during this year’s event – over 5,300 counts were completed on Saturday 8 August. A huge thank you to everyone who took part this year!
In the six annual big butterfly count events that have taken place so far, over 208,000 counts have been undertaken, each a 15 minute survey for 20 target species of butterflies and moths.
As usual, Sir David Attenborough led the publicity for this year’s big butterfly count with interviews on television and radio, as well as widespread coverage in the newspapers and online. As a result, almost 108,000 people visited the big butterfly count website between April and August.
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