Gardeners urged to rally to the defence of the butterfly

Wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation said 76 per cent of butterfly species in the UK have declined over the last 40 years

By Lexi Finnigan

12:01AM GMT 14 Mar 2016

Butterfly experts are calling on Britain’s gardeners to help with the “catastrophic” decline in the country’s most common butterflies.

Wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation said 76 per cent of butterfly species in the UK have declined over the last 40 years.

And without a better insight into what is causing the problem, these numbers could fall further.

Consequently the charity are launching a Garden Butterfly Survey, which will ask participants to count butterflies every month in the hope the data will reveal how the species are being affected by climate change and which plants and gardens they prefer.

Richard Fox, head of recording at Butterfly Conservation, said the number of garden butterflies had decreased by a quarter since 1976.

He said the numbers were “pretty disastrous” but hopes the new survey will help wildlife experts understand why butterflies are struggling.

"We are a nation of gardeners and a nation of wildlife lovers. The Garden Butterfly Survey brings these two abiding passions together to help conserve the UK's beleaguered butterflies," he said.

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