A Peacock Butterfly resting on a leaf
Think of the butterflies! (Picture: Andrew Cooper/Butterfly Conservation/PA Wire)

People have been urged to stop their ‘obsession with tidiness’ in the garden as it’s ‘just really bad for nature’, with 2024 the worst on record for butterfly numbers in a citizen survey.

An annual survey which has taken place for 14 years recorded the worst ever numbers, with participants spotting just seven butterflies on average per count, down almost half on last year’s average of 12.

Conservationists are warning of a ‘butterfly emergency’ after 9,000 people logged no butterflies at all during their counting session.

The Big Butterfly Count, organised by wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation over three weeks in the summer, gets members of the public to spend 15 minutes recording the butterflies they see in their garden, park or countryside.

It was the worst summer in the count’s history for butterflies including the common and holly blues, green-veined and small whites, small tortoiseshell, painted lady and Scotch argus, the charity said.

Four-fifths (81%) of species showed declines in the number of butterflies this year compared to those seen in 2023.

A Brimstone Butterfly resting on a flower
Ripping up your artificial grass is one way to improve butterfly numbers (Picture: Matt Berry/Butterfly Conservation/PA Wire)
A pair of Silver Studded Blues
(Picture: Matthew Oates/National Trust / S)

The charity says butterflies were hit by a wet spring and cool summer – but warn that the natural variations in numbers of insects, which are affected by the weather, come on top of long-term serious declines.

Dr Richard Fox, head of science at Butterfly Conservation, said declines are driven by loss of habitat in the 1970s and 1980s as it was ploughed up or built on, and ongoing degradation of the landscape since, including from pesticide pollution, while extreme weather from climate change is taking its toll.

And he said intensive management of the countryside and gardens was also having an impact.

So if you care about butterflies, it’s time to rip up that artificial grass.

Butterfly Conservation is writing an open letter to Environment Secretary Steve Reed, calling on the Government to declare a ‘nature emergency’ and ban neonicotinoid pesticides with no exceptions.

The pesticides are well-known for their harmful impact on bees, and have been banned in the UK with emergency exemptions granted under some circumstances, but the nature charity is highlighting their impact on butterflies too.

How to help butterflies

1. Leave fallen fruit under fruit trees. In late summer, butterflies feed on fruit juices in over-ripe pears, plums and apples which have fallen to the ground

2. Avoid the use of pesticides. Insecticides will kill butterflies, caterpillars, and bees as well as being bad for the environment in general

3. Let the grass grow. Don’t be too fussy about everything being under control in the garden

4. Rip up the artificial grass. Seriously… it’s an eyesore as well as being horrible for wildlife.

Dr Fox said: ‘When used on farmland, these chemicals make their way into the wild plants growing at field edges, resulting in adult butterflies and moths drinking contaminated nectar and caterpillars feeding on contaminated plants.’

He said UK must ban the chemicals, warning: ‘If we don’t act now to address the long-term drivers of butterfly decline, we will face extinction events never before seen in our lifetime.’

He said the neonicotinoid ban on its own would not reverse the declines, but would have a positive impact on insects.

In total, just over 935,000 butterflies and day-flying moths were recorded across the UK, in the period from July 12 to August 4, down more than a third on 2023’s figures.

Dr Fox said: ‘The results are in line with wider evidence that the summer of 2024 has been very poor for butterflies.’

He added: ‘Butterflies are a key indicator species; when they are in trouble we know that the wider environment is in trouble too.

‘Nature is sounding the alarm call. We must act now if we are to turn the tide on these rapid declines and protect species for future generations.’

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