I find butterflies enchanting. I’ve missed their gentle beauty over the long, winter months. So, when there was a break in the clouds the other afternoon, I grabbed my mug and took it out into the garden to feel the sun on my face while I enjoyed my tea, surrounded by bird song and spring flowers, and I looked around for any early butterflies.

Before long, my eye was drawn to the languid, floaty flight of a primrose-yellow butterfly as it absent-mindedly drifted from flower to shrub to fruit tree, and then over my neighbour’s fence and away. A brimstone!

Folklore has it that “butterfly” is derived from “butter-coloured fly”, this being a description of the male brimstone (the female is off-white, rather than the delicate, pale yellow of the male). A nice story, and brimstones are often the first butterfly we see each spring, so perhaps it is true. Along with peacocks, commas and small tortoiseshells, brimstones overwinter as adults, hibernating in the tangle of evergreen ivy, or in holes in trees, log piles or even rabbit burrows. If they can find a way in, they will very happily spend the winter in an undisturbed corner of a shed or garage, until increasing day length and rising temperatures rouse them from their torpor. Then they take to the wing once more, looking for food and a mate.

Unlike many of our butterfly species, the brimstone is doing quite well at present, with populations increasing between 2022 and 2023 (source: The Big Butterfly Count; Butterfly Conservation Society). However, small tortoiseshells, which are also coming out of hibernation this month, are faring less well, decreasing in numbers by 30% over the last 13 years. Sadly, a similar story is true for many other species, struggling to cope with loss of habitat and changing weather patterns.

If you are as enchanted by butterflies as I am, and care about improving their fortunes in the coming years, why not sign up to Butterfly Seekers? This is an Essex Wildlife Trust citizen science campaign that runs from now until the end of September, monitoring the numbers of butterflies recorded throughout the county. You don’t need to be a butterfly expert to take part, just download the free ArcGIS Survey123 app, then download the Butterfly Seekers survey, click “Continue without signing in” and off you go.

Last year, more than 10,000 butterfly sightings were recorded by Essex residents, providing the Trust with data on the distribution and seasonality of our precious butterflies. If climate change is affecting their success and wellbeing, this data will help to highlight this, and will provide valuable evidence to lobby for action to be taken to mitigate against it.

It’s really rewarding to feel you are doing something to help butterflies, and it’s so easy to take part. So, what are you waiting for?

- Sue Huggett, Campaigns Volunteer

Join Butterfly Seekers now