More than half of the UK’s butterfly species are now in long-term decline, Butterfly Conservation has revealed.
New data from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme has shown that 2024 was one of the worst years on record for the nation’s butterfly species.
Species including the small tortoiseshell (above), chalk hill blue and small copper were among the worst affected, experiencing their lowest numbers since records began.
It was also the second-worst year on record for 'wider countryside species', the common butterflies that live in gardens, parks and across the British landscape, such as the common blue, gatekeeper and large white.
The new data was collected as part of the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, which, since 1976, has been asking volunteers to count butterflies across the country.
Overall, 2024 was the fifth-worst year for UK butterflies since records began. The low numbers have been blamed partly on the results of a wet spring and relatively cool summer, but the data also shows that 31 of the 59 resident UK species are now in long-term decline.
Top image: small tortoiseshell. Credit: Cath Scott via Butterfly Conservation
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