British NGO sounds the alarm over the decline of butterflies and pollinators
Wildlife lovers across the UK are being encouraged to take part in a Big Butterfly Count this summer. It’s the world’s largest survey of butterflies, and lasts for just over two weeks until August 6th. Data provided by volunteers in their gardens or on walks is used by the charity Butterfly Conservation, which has noted a significant decline in numbers in recent decades. This is part of a wider crisis for insects, with modern farming practices being blamed by some experts. N°33NB4YNN°33PC9CA
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00:00 The butterfly house of London Zoo is full of beautiful specimens.
00:06 Here, in this replica of their natural habitat, they can thrive, away from predators and other threats.
00:12 But in the wild, life is more difficult, and butterflies are becoming harder to find.
00:17 That's certainly what Amy Walkden and Emma Grice are finding in their rural village of Abbots Kerswell.
00:23 [Children playing]
00:30 After school, Amy and Emma often take their children and school friend butterfly spotting.
00:35 It's fun to go on a nature walk, but they're also doing it to provide data for the charity Butterfly Conservation.
00:41 Having a yearly record of what is around and what isn't around, I think is really good scientific data
00:47 to indicate changes such as global warming and habitat destruction. Butterflies are sensitive indicators of what's going on, so it's really important.
00:57 Monitoring takes place year-round, but the charity is particularly encouraging people to take part in its Big Butterfly Count survey until August 6th,
01:06 entering information about how many they spot in its free app.
01:10 Data from volunteers helped produce Butterfly Conservation's latest report.
01:14 Lead author Richard Fox says its findings are alarming.
01:17 80% of species are in decline, and butterflies are no longer present on average in nearly half the areas they were found 50 years ago.
01:25 The major causes of the decline are what we humans have done to the landscape in the UK over the past 50, 60, 70 years.
01:35 And so that's things like the intensification of agriculture, which is not just chemicals that go into that, pesticides and fertilisers,
01:45 but also changes to the landscape, so removing hedgerows, maximising the space for growing crops and pushing nature out of farmland.
01:55 Back at home, the Walkdens are also raising caterpillars in their garden. Young Robin already has a good idea of how important this is.
02:03 If we don't have any butterflies and all the buzzy things, then the things that eat butterflies won't have any food,
02:10 and the things that eat them, well, basically just the food chain, and part of the food chain is the things that we eat.
02:16 And if there's none of them, then we will starve and we won't really be able to survive, will we?
02:24 The decline in butterflies and other insects isn't limited to Britain.
02:28 With a 2020 study in the journal Biological Conservation estimating insect numbers worldwide have dropped by 5 to 10 per cent in the past 150 years.
02:38 The UK government now includes butterfly numbers as an official indicator of biodiversity.
02:43 The hope is that with proper monitoring and efforts to protect threatened species, the decline in butterfly numbers could begin to reverse.
02:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]