Simon's Blog - Big Butterfly Count 2016

Last summer over 52,000 of us spent a quarter of an hour spotting almost 580,000 butterflies and day-flying moths.

The results of the 2015 Big Butterfly Count revealed that the big winners were the Holly Blue which saw a 151% increase on 2014. Gatekeeper numbers were up 17% on last year and the Painted Lady saw a rise of 28%.

So will things be different this year?

Well if you fancy taking part you just need 15 minutes and a pen and paper.

You can find all the info as well as a handy identification chart by clicking here.

And to get you in the mood, here are a few photos of the butterflies and moths that have been turning up in my meridianweather@itv.com inbox.

That's a small Tortoiseshell that Roy Venkatesh came across at the Vyne in Sherborne St John.

He also found this future moth, a Mullein Moth caterpillar to be precise.

Here's a brilliant image of a Skipper Moth that Tim Wells took at the Castle Hill Nature reserve in Newhaven.

And that's the Eyed Hawk Moth that turned up in Janet Steel’s greenhouse in Goodwood.

Martyn Howse in Seven Sisters near Eastbourne sent in a photo of this Gate Keeper Butterfly.

It seems Heather Hills nine year old grandson Lukesh in Manston is irresistible to this one.

And clearly it's determined to find out which bit of him is most comfy.

After the hand it also checked out his head.

And his back.

Or maybe it was hot and just wanted a paddle but kept missing the pool!

And finally confusing the Big Butterfly Count with a calorie count, here's Timothy, Ken Gest's cat in Snodland, trying to work out how to get to the moth on the other side of the window.