By
Reality Check teamBBC News
30
June 2018
It's
been claimed that butterfly populations in the UK are falling rapidly. Do the
figures back this up?
Their
names are as varied and colourful as their wings.
The
Duke of Burgundy, the Lulworth skipper, the chalk hill blue, the painted lady
and the small pearl-bordered fritillary are among the 59 species of butterfly
regularly found in the UK.
But,
adored as they are, it's often claimed that the UK's butterflies are in
trouble. Climate change, habitat destruction and hunting/collecting have all
been blamed.
The
naturalist Chris Packham recently tweeted his concern.
“I’ve
been in my garden in Hampshire for the last couple of days . Sunny , plenty of
wildflowers . Not a single butterfly . Not one . Nothing . And in the woods a
handful of Speckled Woods . I think we are at a point of absolute crisis in our
countryside .”
The
statistics support his observation.
Government
figures suggest that, since 1976, "habitat specialist" butterflies -
the ones that tend not to fly far from their favoured landscapes, such as
heathland or chalkland - have declined
by 77%.
"Wider
countryside" species - the ones that are better able to move around and
adapt to different environments - have declined by 46% over the same period.
"It's
worrying," says Tom Brereton, head of monitoring for the charity Butterfly
Conservation. "When I started doing this, the concern was mainly about
habitat specialists, but now all types seem to be struggling. We don't fully
understand why that's happening."
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