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.
