It was a good day on the butterfly transect today here at St Abb's Head. Species spotted included Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small Copper, Small Skipper, Common Blue, Grayling, Northern Brown Argus, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and Dark Green Fritillary (pictured). We carry out our butterfly transect once a week, and it takes over 2 hours to complete on a sunny day when there are lots of butterflies! We have been monitoring the butterflies here for over 30 years and this kind of data is vital for scientists to learn more about the long term trends for butterfly populations. If you'd like to contribute to butterfly conservation then don't worry, you don't need to spend two hours a week for 30 years! The Big Butterfly Count is taking place from the 14th of July to the 6th of August, and they're asking you to spend just 15 minutes sitting somewhere such as a garden or a park and recording any butterflies you spot.  Head over to http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/ to find out more. Lizy



Dark Green Fritillary Argynnis aglaja