Trends in butterfly populations in UK gardens—New evidence from citizen science monitoring

• DOI: 10.1111/icad.12645
• Publication Date: 2023-05-24T04:00:18Z
• Authors: Kate E. Plummer; Daria Dadam; Tom Brereton; Emily B. Dennis; Dario Massimino; Kate Risely; Gavin M. Siriwardena; Mike P. Toms
• Keywords: Citizen Science

Abstract Private gardens are recognised as potentially important refugia for butterflies. Yet little is known about how might be contributing to butterfly conservation, their restricted accessibility has meant that garden habitats not well‐represented in traditional monitoring schemes. Garden BirdWatch (GBW) the UK's largest structured bird survey, comprising over 25 years of weekly counts from more than 14,000 gardens, predominantly occupying suburban and rural locations. Since 2007, a subset GBW participants have additionally recorded abundances Using data 14 seasons (2007–2020) 7971 with consistent monitoring, we present first garden‐specific, national trends 22 widespread species (37% all UK butterflies). Half investigated increased significantly abundance between 2007 2020. Conversely, only one species, Wall ( Lasiommata megera ), showed marginal reduction, though this change was statistically significant. A strong, positive association these new, habitat‐focused those butterflies broadly, previously reported by Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS), indicates patterns largely reflection changes occurring nationally. However, do appear faring better compared wider landscape. Averaging across non‐migratory revealed greater increases time UKBMS. Effective can produce reliable informative population trends, it provides evidence significant role play sustaining populations.