You may remember a previous post mentioned the UK’s Big Butterfly Count, this one here in fact.
The 2014 results are in. The sad news is that after a promising year in 2013, this year most species have declined. The small tortoiseshells bucked the trend and increased. The most abundant species noted this year was the stunning peacock. You can view the full results here. The most common butterfly I was able to photograph in the garden was the speckled wood, followed by the comma. There were quite a few whites fluttering around, a blue one was spotted. I also managed to snap a red admiral and a peacock. There are some tips on making your garden butterfly friendly this September here.
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Beautiful pictures! I especially like the side shot of the Comma
Thanks, the butterfly was kind enough to show off its “comma” 🙂
Sad to hear most butterflies have declined in numbers. Is this mostly habitat loss? Lovely colourful photos 🙂
Yes, I believe habitat loss is a major part of it.
Nice pictures 🙂 Definitely he most abundant round here are the Speckled Woods. Small Tortoiseshells seemed to have a very good year and I did find an abundance of Common Blues but only in certain places where conditions were right, elsewhere I saw none at all. I didn’t see many Peacocks apart from those that I raised, so I am glad to hear that they had a good year.
Thank you. I loved your posts about the Peacocks that you raised. The blue butterfly never landed for a photo – most uncooperative!
Great photos of some beautiful creatures! I consider all of our wildlife, insects, etc.God’s creation.
Alan
It always cheers me up to see a butterfly flutter by 🙂