The Big Butterfly Count

​Following a cool and wet May and June there has been much talk about the absence of bees and butterflies in the 4Bs area. But almost on cue the sun started to shine in July and we began to see more flying insects. The annual Big Butterfly Count- one of the worlds largest citizen science projects – has begun, and we are encouraged to go outside, observe and record nature in real time. The aggregation of all the counts across the UK provides an indication of the abundance and diversity of our butterflies. The method is simple – go outside on a warm sunny day, find a spot with some flowers or shrubs that might attract butterflies and spend 15 mins counting the different species of butterfly using a simple id chart, then upload the results to an interactive map. We are encouraging members of our 4Bs WhatsApp Nature Group to participate in the survey  we currently have around 40 counts on the interactive map.

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Last weekend two members of the Nature WhatsApp Group did some butterfly counts
in the area around the Lime Kilns in Betchworth Hills. The chalk grasslands are full of wild flowers and flowering shrubs at the moment – a paradise for nectar loving insects.
This area had been highly disturbed as a result of recent fence building around the Quarry site and we were amazed at how nature had reclaimed the chalk spoil tips.

Our two butterfly counts in different parts of the site over 15mins recorded a total of 27 butterflies and 6 species – meadow brown, marbled white, gatekeeper, 6 spot burnet, skipper, small white.  This is a healthy average of 13.5 butterflies per count but we must see this as a biodiversity and abundance hot spot. The average of my counts is more like 4 or 5 this year which is significantly lower than the all time low of 9 butterflies per count in 2022 (see below).

So far we have about 40 butterfly counts in the 4Bs area: our goal is to generate at least 80 counts so we can develop a significant baseline for future surveys and get a sense of the diversity and relative abundance of species in our area. 

With 9 days to go until the Big Butterfly Count finishes on August 4th we are pessimistic that we will reach anything like the average counts of previous years. After an all-time low in 2022 of just nine individual butterflies spotted per Count, 2023 saw an increase to 12 butterflies recorded on average per Count. So far the average count in the 4Bs is significantly lowere than this figure.

If you can find the time to contribute to the Big Butterfly Count citizen science project please follow the link. https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/ where you will find an identification chart and a link to an interactive map where you can upload your results. There is also an App you can use to record your observation. If you cant upload your results please send the to [email protected] with the location at which the observation was made and we will upload them.

Simon & Norman

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