Help us break butterfly count record says David Attenborough
Sir David Attenborough launched the 2014 Big Butterfly count at WWT’s London Wetland Centre last week and your local WWT Welney Wetland Centre is inviting you to come along to help count a million butterflies across the country.
Every year, WWT helps Butterfly Conservation invite as many people as possible to have fun counting butterflies, which at the same time helps researchers find out how our much-loved native species like the small copper are faring.
Last year, 800,000 butterflies were counted by 46,000 people. So this year Sir David is hoping that, together, we can break that record and count more than a million.
WWT Vice President and Butterfly Conservation President Sir David Attenborough said:
“Every single person taking part in the Big Butterfly Count this summer can produce a statistic that is of real value as their records help build a picture of how butterflies are faring and how we can best conserve them.”
Butterflies are a key indicator species of the health of our environment – if they’re struggling, then many other species like birds, bees and bats are struggling too. Butterfly numbers have improved after a terrible 2012 but are still below average. Three quarters of the UK’s butterflies are in decline, including the common copper, and a third are in danger of extinction.
For the duration of the Big Butterfly Count, you can collect a free spotter sheet when visiting WWT Welney to help you have a fun day out and do your bit for our beautiful butterflies. You can also download them at wwt.org.uk/bigbutterflycount
