CHILDREN learned about the importance of butterflies and moths during the first Wild Wednesday event of the summer holidays last week.
Organised by the North Pennines National Landscape, at Bowlees Visitor Centre, the activities aim to teach children about the flora, fauna and geology of upper Teesdale in a fun way.
The latest event was all the more important as the Butterfly Conservation group revealed the wet and cold spring could be contributing to much lower butterfly numbers this year.
The organisation’s Big Butterfly Count shows that numbers are half what they were in 2023 and is the lowest in the annual event’s 14-year history.
Dr Dan Hoare, director of conservation, said: “Butterflies need some warm and dry conditions to be able to fly around and mate.
“If the weather doesn’t allow for this there will be fewer opportunities to breed, and the lack of butterflies now is likely the knock-on effect of our very dreary spring and early summer.”
However, the charity is also warning that it is not only this year’s weather that is contributing to the lack of butterflies being seen. Some 80 per cent of butterflies in the UK have declined since the 1970s, with habitat loss, climate change and pesticide the main reasons.
With populations of butterflies already depleted, they are less resilient to the impact of poor weather.
Dr Hoare added: “The lack of butterflies this year is a warning sign to us all. Nature is sounding the alarm and we must listen. Butterflies are a key indicator species. When they are in trouble we know the wider environment is in trouble too.
“People are telling us they aren’t seeing butterflies, but simply telling us is not enough, we need everyone to record what they are or aren’t seeing by doing a Big Butterfly Count as this will give us the evidence we need to take vital action to conserve our butterfly species.”
At Bowlees, Kerryanne Higgins, of the North Pennines National Landscape, opened the Wild Wednesday session with a true or false quiz in which she identified the similarities and differences between moths and butterflies.
This included learning that their wings are made up of small scales, and their insect classification of lepidoptera means scaly wings.
She added: “There are a lot more moths than butterflies in the UK. There are about 60 varieties of butterflies, but there are about 2,500 different types of moths.”
Later the children went on a butterfly trail where they matched types of caterpillars to the moths and butterflies they would become.
The session ended with children taking part in the Big Butterfly Count in which they listed and counted all the butterflies they spotted in the space of 15 minutes.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
