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The Big Butterfly Count

By The Stories Team

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This summer M&S and Butterfly Conservation President Sir David Attenborough are urging the UK to take part in the world’s biggest butterfly survey, The Big Butterfly Count from 14th July to 5th August.

The Big Butterfly Count is a nationwide survey aimed at helping us assess the health of our environment. It was launched in 2010 and an impressive 10,000 people took part, counting 210,000 butterflies across the nation. Many more people, some 34,000 in fact, joined Big Butterfly Count 2011, counting 320,000 butterflies, and we’re hoping to make this year’s count even bigger!

Sir David Attenborough - the Big Butterfly Count
 
Sir David Attenborough explains: “The wet weather this spring and early summer has made life really hard for our butterflies and things could get worse unless conditions improve. Our butterflies were already struggling – almost three quarters of UK species have decreased in numbers during the last ten years. These falls are worrying because butterflies are important indicator species for our environment – their declines suggest a wider insect biodiversity crisis. You can play a vital role in the battle to secure their future. By taking part in the Big Butterfly Count you will be providing important information that could help turn their fortunes around.”

To take part, simply count butterflies for 15 minutes during bright weather during the Big Butterfly Count. Bufferly Conservation have chosen this time of year because most butterflies are at the adult stage of their lifecycle, so more likely to be seen. Records are welcome from anywhere – such as parks, school grounds and gardens, to fields and forests – and you can find out more, download your free butterfly chart and log your sightings at www.bigbutterflycount.org.

In this video Mike Dilger explains a little bit more about this year’s count:

Whilst the count is going on, we’d also love you to post your best butterfly pictures on the M&S Facebook page so we can share them with all our fans!

Category Latest, Plan A, Posted 1:13 pm, 13 July 2012

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