October
18
Big Butterfly Count results
The results are in for the Big Butterfly Count and so I thought I would compare the wildlife garden results with the national results. It is a mixed picture. Some butterflies are doing really well and others are struggling. I counted on 12 separate occasions and tried to get at least one photograph of each sort although I wasn’t always successful. The images below include a moth that was in the count – a Silver Y.
| Name of butterfly | Wildlife garden numbers | National results | Increase/decrease for national results compared with 2022 |
| Red Admiral | 83 | 248,077 | +338% |
| Gatekeeper | 53 | 222,896 | +12% |
| Large whites | 73 | 216,666 | +11% |
| Small whites | 47 | 190,506 | +15% |
| Peacock | 22 | 149,179 | +172% |
| Holly Blue | 2 | 34,655 | +22% |
| Comma | 1 | 49,173 | +26% |
| Ringlet | 0 | 29,708 | -11% |
| Common Blue | 1 (I think) | 30,009 | -13% |
| Painted Lady | 34 | 11,893 | +3% |
| Speckled wood | 3 | 29,708 | -11% |
| Green veined white | 0 (I might have had 2 but was unsure) | 24,093 | -0% |
Strangely, not that different from the national results in terms of most seen to least seen. The plant that had the most butterflies on during the counting time was the Buddleja bush. How appropriate. At times there were more than 10 Red Admirals on it and upto 8 Peacocks, particularly in the mid-morning sun.