Dorset butterfly updates
Our regular butterfly counting (transect) walk on Hod Hill has been going for 44 years, but needs more walkers if we are not to lose the value of the data already gathered. Continue reading
Spring is here! The birds are singing and ten species of butterfly have been sighted: it’s going to be a good butterfly year!
Five transect (butterfly monitoring) walks in North Dorset are having problems with not enough people to cover all the weeks needed Continue reading
As we said in an earlier article, we are trying to beat our previous record of filling 2609 (89.5%) of the kilometre squares in Dorset with at least one butterfly record.
As of now (1 December) we are up to 2,606: just 4 squares short of beating our record. Continue reading
We need help counting butterflies at Brackett’s Coppice (West Dorset), The Milldown (Blandford) and Bind Barrow (Burton Bradstock). Continue reading
We are working on bringing you the full 2020 Butterfly Report, which has sent us trawling through our database of butterfly records. The number of butterflies counted from the mid 1990s to May 2021 is 5,608,000, Continue reading
The coronavirus situation has progressed rapidly over the last few days and Butterfly Conservation has regretfully decided to suspend all butterfly monitoring activities until further notice. You can still record the butterflies in your garden. Continue reading
Compared to last year, most of this year has been better, though mid-June was actually down on last year’s totals. However, the recent spell of sunny weather has changed that with numbers being up by 38% Continue reading
Earlier in June we appealed for records in an area around Ibberton in North Dorset where nothing had been reported in five years. We are delighted that John and Sue East stepped up and found butterflies in Continue reading
We’ve had reports of Brimstones in Bournemouth, Peacocks and Painted Ladies in Poole and Hairstreaks in Hazelbury Bryan. But one of the loveliest, most rural patches of Dorset is currently looking like a butterfly desert.
One of the nationwide schemes for seeing how butterflies are doing is the “Wider Countryside Scheme” (WCS). We need volunteers to walk the following areas Continue reading