Hi Compassionates,
I hope you are enjoying summer so far, and have had plenty of opportunity to get outdoors and connect with nature. If not, then never fear, there is still plenty of time until the start of Astronomical Autumn – a whole 54 days. And if you need an actual reason, apart from the fact that its great for health and well-being, and your humanity, then why not become an amateur scientist for 15 minutes, and help to take part in the Big Butterfly Count?
Butterflies are amazing aren’t they? The transformation that they undergo. The kaleidoscope of patterns and colours. The incredible migration that some can undertake, to faraway lands, despite the fragility and delicacy of their design. And they are crucial pollinators too, hence why the Big Butterfly count is so important, the largest Citizen Science project in the country, organised by the Butterly Conservation Trust. All you need to do is download their free app, and one of their butterfly charts displaying the most likely butterflies and moths you will see, and head outdoors and get counting between 14th July – 6th August.
After 15 minutes of counting, you can log your data on their app or website, hopefully feeling all the more confident with your identification skills. And don’t worry if you make a mistake. I identified a burnet moth, as a cinnabar moth the other day, completely unaware that the burnet moth existed. I didn’t upload the data luckily, and I was thrilled to have identified a different species, but it just goes to show that mistakes can happen and it’s helpful to download the ID chart via their website, as this chart has been designed to help minimise counting errors.
And the Burnet moth isn’t the only different species I have learnt about this summer. Others include the Comma butterfly, the Ringlet, and skipper moth. All of which I have spotted in Epping Forest. Oh yes…and not forgetting the monstrous hover fly, which I mistook for a hornet, picture below. A fantastic imitator! And an important pollinator 🙂
All this excitement has definitely inspired the next PC family nature and mindfulness workshop, I’m super excited to get outdoors and help future generations connect with butterflies, and moths, and the other small things that help to run our planet. Without them we simply wouldn’t survive. And they need our help, as they are currently under threat due to habitat loss and climate change.
So why not head outdoors and give it a go. Summer is definitely the best season to learn about insects and the small things that run our planet. It’s a great mindfulness exercise. A simple way to focus the mind on the present moment and inspire greater oneness with nature. And a great use of technology in my opinion. The data collected nationwide will help the Butterfly conservation trust to keep track of upward and downward trends of butterflies across the country, so they can implement effective conservation strategies in the future.
Happy counting! Have a great summer.
Little Miss Compassion xx
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planetcompassion.org 