Nature lovers will be helping to count butterflies as part of the world's largest butterfly survey. The Wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation in the UK asked people to look for the Red Admiral, Common Blue, Painted Lady and other Big Butterfly Count species during the event on at Kynance Cove, near The Lizard to give them an idea of how healthy our environment is.

 

Butterflies fought back last year after a terrible 2012 but despite this, butterfly numbers were still below average. Three-quarters of the UK’s butterflies are in decline and one-third are in danger of extinction.

 

This is bad news for butterflies and it is bad news for the UK’s birds, bees, bats and other wildlife. This is because butterflies are a key indicator species of the health of our environment – if they are struggling, then many other species are struggling also.

 

Every single person who took 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.