Spend time with nature, Attenborough says as he backs world's biggest butterfly count

Spending time with nature offers "precious breathing space" from modern life, including from the "woes of Brexit", renowned British conservationist Sir David Attenborough said as he appealed to the public to join the world's biggest butterfly count.

The big butterfly count is a nationwide survey in the UK aimed at helping to assess the health of the environment. It was launched in 2010 and has rapidly become the world's biggest survey of butterflies. Over 60,000 people took part in 2017, submitting 62,500 counts of butterflies and day-flying moths from across the UK.

Backing the unique count, the 92-year-old naturalist said watching butterflies in his garden takes his mind off "the woes of Brexit", referring to the ranging controversy over the UK leaving the 28-member European Union on March 29, 2019.

Attenborough said being in nature "offers us all precious breathing space away from the stresses and strains of modern life".

"Some of my most memorable experiences have happened when I've been simply sitting and watching the wildlife that lives where I do," Butterfly Conservation president and veteran broadcaster said.

He told BBC Radio: "I'm asking people turn their mind away from squabbles and problems about what's facing us with Brexit, sit in a quiet place where the sun is shining and see how many butterflies come.

The exercise involves spending 15 minutes counting butterflies and submitting the sightings online.

The majority of butterfly species have been in decline for the past 40 years, the BBC reported.

However, this year, weather in the UK - a cold winter followed by settled weather during a late spring and summer - have created the right conditions for butterflies to flourish, the report said.

Attenborough also said the Big Butterfly Count, which involves spending 15 minutes in a sunny spot counting butterflies and submitting sightings online, can help gather vital information that may help protect them in the future.

He said: "A cause for great concern over recent years is that many of our once common and widespread species like the large white, small copper and gatekeeper have started to struggle, mirroring the declines of rarer species.

"Butterfly Conservation has also revealed that butterflies are declining faster in our towns and cities than in the countryside.

"So please take part in the Big Butterfly Count this summer, we need to know, now, more than ever before, just what is happening to butterflies in our towns, in our gardens and in our countryside," he appealed.

Butterflies react very quickly to change in their environment which makes them excellent biodiversity indicators. Butterfly declines are an early warning for other wildlife losses, according to Butterfly Conservation.

"That's why counting butterflies can be described as taking the pulse of nature," it said, adding that the current count will also assist the organisation in identifying trends in species that will help them plan how to protect butterflies from extinction, as well as understand the effect of climate change on wildlife.

In 2017, altogether, 62,547 counts were submitted by over 60,400 participants, a 64 per cent increase in the number of counts and a 66 per cent increase in the number of people taking part compared with 2016.

Despite 550,000 individual insects of the 20 target species being spotted during big butterfly count 2017, the average number of individuals seen per 15 minute count was the lowest recorded since the project began in 2010. A mere 10.9 individuals per count were recorded, down from 12.2 in 2016, according to Butterfly Conversation.