Join our Butterfly Trail this weekend – 15/16th July
Join us this weekend for our Butterfly Trail with our monkey Bailey, a keen Lepidopterist, as he takes you around the Sanctuary to spot 8 of our resident butterflies!
The Wildheart Animal Sanctuary is participating in the BIG Butterfly Count which is a UK-wide survey aimed at helping us assess the health of our environment simply by counting the amount and type of butterflies (and some day-flying moths) we see. We are hoping to help raise awareness around the importance of Butterflies to our eco-system and the need for a butterfly count.
Join in in BIG Butterfly count at home…
Why we count butterflies…
- Butterflies are a vital part of the ecosystem as both pollinators and components of the food chain.
- Butterflies are under threat. Numbers of butterflies and moths in the UK have decreased significantly since the 1970s. This is a warning that cannot be ignored.
- Butterfly declines are also an early warning for other wildlife losses. Butterflies are key biodiversity indicators for scientists as they react very quickly to changes in their environment. Therefore, if their numbers are falling, then nature is in trouble. So tracking numbers of butterflies is crucial in the fight to conserve our natural world.
- Counting butterflies can be described as taking the pulse of nature and we depend on you, our citizen scientists, to help us assess how much help nature needs. The data from this and other counts will also help us to identify important trends in species that will assist us in planning how to protect butterflies from extinction, as well as understanding the effect of climate change on wildlife.
How to take part
Simply count butterflies for 15 minutes during bright (preferably sunny) weather during the Big Butterfly Count. We have chosen this time of year because most butterflies are at the adult stage of their lifecycle, so more likely to be seen. Records are welcome from anywhere: from parks, school grounds and gardens, to fields and forests.