THE lowest number of butterflies has been recorded in this year’s count since records began.

The annual UK-wide Big Butterfly Count shows large falls particularly in peacocks and small tortoiseshell butterflies.

Record numbers of people took part in the count in July and August this year, with nearly 1111,628 participants and almost 150,000 15-minute counts of butterflies included in the study.

But the Butterfly Conservation reported the lowest average number of butterflies per count, at 10.66, since recording began in 2010.

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Senior surveys officer at the organisation Dr Zoë Randle said: “These 2020 results illustrate the perilous state of wildlife in the UK.

“An unusually warm spring led many species to emerge earlier than usual. So we may have only caught the tail-end of the flight period for many species during this year’s Big Butterfly Count.

“Our scientists will use the data to try and understand what is happening and how we can work to solve it.”