Long spells of warm summer sunshine provided a boost for beleaguered butterflies with four times as many recorded during this year’s Big Butterfly Count than in 2012.
A record-breaking 46,000 people took part counting more than 830,000 butterflies and day-flying moths across the UK.
Small White topped the Big Butterfly Count 2013 chart with the Large White in second place and Peacock a surprise in third. Garden favourite the Small Tortoiseshell recorded its best Big Butterfly Count result yet, coming sixth.
In all, 15 of the 21 Big Butterfly Count species increased in 2013 compared with the previous year, and 12 of these were up by at least 50%.
The survey, organised by charity Butterfly Conservation, invited the public to count how many of 21 common species they could see in a 15 minute period and ran from 20 July to 11 August.
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