Nature experts warn of ‘butterfly emergency’ with record lows in annual count - Big Butterfly Count citizen science project sees the lowest number of butterflies per count in its 14-year history.

Farmers and landowners have been urged to help identify a plant crucial to the survival of one of Britain's rarest butterflies. The marsh fritillary butterfly was declared extinct in Cumbria in 2004 due to the loss of wet grasslands.

Wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation has today declared a national ‘Butterfly Emergency’, with results of this summer’s Big Butterfly Count showing a marked and hugely concerning decline in numbers.

The Big Butterfly Count, organised by wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation over three weeks in the summer, gets members of the public to spend 15 minutes recording the butterflies they see in their garden,

A nature reserve has seen numbers of a rare species of butterfly reach record highs. One count recorded 1,714 silver-studded blue butterflies at Studland and Godlingston Heath in Dorset - the highest since monitoring began.