The Guardian ·
Record heatwaves bring Britain’s second-best butterfly season in 16 years
Volunteers counted almost 1.4m common butterflies and moths, with painted ladies up 335% on last year
The recording-breaking heat of 2026 delivered the second-best British butterfly season of the past 16 years, according to the Big Butterfly Count.
The largest insect count in the world, in which more than 100,000 volunteers counted almost 1.4m common butterflies and day-flying moths, confirmed what many people experienced – a noticeable profusion of butterflies during the five-heatwave summer.
Particularly numerous were painted ladies, a migratory species which arrives in Britain each summer via a relay of several generations flying from sub-Saharan Africa. Their numbers were up 335% on last year, with the Butterfly Conservation count recording their second-highest numbers since the count began in 2010.
