We record butterflies in five-year cycles, and 2024 is the last year of the current cycle. We are doing quite well, but would like to beat our previous best – read on and see if you can help.

Dorset is divided into 2,915 kilometre squares. As of 8 August we had recorded at least one species of butterfly in 2,517 squares – 86% of the total. In previous recording cycles we have achieved:

2005/2009 – 1982 km squares filled (68%)

2010/2014 – 2379 km squares filled (82%)

2015/2019 – 2609 km squares filled (89.5%)

So to equal what we have achieved before, we need another 92 squares to have a butterfly recorded in them before the end of the year.

You can see exactly where the gaps are on our White Holes page and map.

Gatekeeper. Photo: Sharon Towning

If you spot any species in a white hole, please record it using our Butterfly Recording Form. It doesn’t matter if it’s a common species, like the Gatekeeper above: we still need to know about it.

We want to help our Dorset butterflies to do well, and we can only do that if we know where they are and in what sort of numbers – please help.