Be Prepared for your Big Butterfly Count

Here’s a Speckled Wood Butterfly spotted at Church Farm last week. Did you know that seven out of ten species of British butterfly are declining and half are threatened with extinction? Launching a campaign to save one of Britain's best loved insects, Sir David Attenborough warned that five species of butterfly have become extinct in the last 100 years, while more than 60 species of moth have vanished from the UK. The wildlife presenter called for farmers to tackle the crisis by encouraging more wild flowers and cutting the use of pesticides. And he urged people to take part in Butterfly Conservation's the Big Butterfly Count, which is the largest ever survey of the creatures. From 24 July to 1 August, people will be asked to look for butterflies in gardens and fields and record the species they find on a website.

Be prepared for your Big Butterfly Count
Identify the different species that can be found during high summer on a walk-and-talk with butterfly expert Andrew Wood at 10am on 10th July. Adults £6.50, Children £3.50. Or join moth expert, Colin Plant, to learn about these widely misunderstood nocturnal creatures at 10pm on 30th July. Adults £6.50, Children £3.50.

References:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1283275/Demise-butterfly-DavidAttenboroughleads-
fight-avert-extinction.html#ixzz0pgT8NWkS
http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/