My interest in butterflies began in earnest when I retired three years ago. I promised myself then that I would get out into the countryside more and that I'd try and learn about groups other than birds, which have been my wildlife mainstay since childhood.  There are only about 40 butterfly species in Yorkshire as whole. Learning them didn't strike me as too daunting, and so seemed a good way to get me going on my nature quest. 

I began by exploring the Chalk habitats near where I live in East Yorkshire, including YWT reserves such as Wharram Quarry,  as I wrote about in an earlier blog.  

Along with finding out about the butterflies themselves, another very welcome discovery was that there are always people around to learn from and share your enthusiasm with -  unsurprisingly, it turns out that Yorkshire butterfly folk are an engaged and helpful bunch! Even the butterflies are friendly - here I am with a comma butterfly

As well as the positive feelings they can engender, butterflies are highly responsive to the environment; land use changes and human-induced climate change are having a significant impact on the composition and diversity of our butterfly populations. David Attenborough - always to be relied upon for his insights into nature - has described them as "a barometer of the health of our natural world".   

There is a large body of research that shows that the more attention we pay to nature, the more we feel connected with it and the better we feel. This certainly reflects my experience. After a distinctly fractious end to my working life, immersing myself in nature in general and butterflies in particular were just what I needed.  I have found that just being out somewhere, quietly sitting and watching butterflies going about their business is a fantastically rewarding and relaxing way to spend some time. 

I wanted to do more, and discovered that during the spring and summer, YWT volunteers are involved in weekly butterfly surveys on many of the Trust's reserves. Undertaking systematic surveys of birds, butterflies, shoreline habitats and the like are a brilliant way in which volunteers can contribute to studies such as those underpinning YWT's 2024 "State Of Yorkshire's Nature" Report. The work documented in this report aims to identify and then try to address the problems faced by our wildlife, a strategy that above all has to be based  upon high quality data. 

Although only a beginner, I decided to reply to a request for butterfly surveyors I'd read, in the hope that I'd be able to make more of a contribution than just doing the Big Butterfly Count. A few emails were exchanged with the result that I was asked to survey the butterflies at Rifle Butts Nature Reserve, a chalk quarry close to my home. It's one of YWT's smaller reserves - barely the size of a football pitch.  It may only be a small area, but I like the fact that it's "mine", and I like even more the fact that this rather modest reserve produced sightings of 18 different butterfly species for me this summer past.

I discovered that there's a distinct seasonality to butterflies; some appear earlier than others and some are on the wing for longer than others. The first to appear may have over-wintered as adults, or they may be migrants - an example of the latter is this Painted Lady, a species that migrates from North Africa and southern Europe. 

Because butterflies are really only active when it is at least 13℃  - this is the minimum for survey work - the weather can be a bit of a challenge in March and April, but after this, things pick up. Distinctive butterflies like Orange Tips and Brimstones are amongst the first signs of spring as the butterfly season gets underway...

July is the key month as this is when the largest numbers of butterflies are active, breeding and laying eggs. A good, warm July is very important - you may recall that the summer of 2024 was poor, and butterflies really suffered, but that 2025 was much better - such contrasts are perhaps an indicator of the unpredictable nature of climate change. 

Year-on-year surveying is needed distinguish trends from seasonal blips. You can see that peak in July, both in terms of numbers of butterflies and their diversity, in the graph below where I have combined my data from Rifle Butts Quarry with that from nearby Kiplingcotes Quarry, another of my regular haunts.

One particular highlight of my summer happened one broiling hot day in July when I found the wild marjoram that grows in profusion at Rifle Butts Quarry swarming with butterflies, including over 70 Gatekeepers as well as Peacocks, Painted Ladies and Red Admirals. Such an amazing sight. 

I really got a lot out of my first year as a butterfly surveyor and with the thought in mind "Well if it works for me......" decided I'd recount my experiences as a way of hopefully encouraging more people to take part. 

Coming up in my next blog I'm going to explore how the surveys are organised and where all the data gathered goes. - meeting up with Bethany Clarkson and Alison Duffield from the Data and Evidence team to find out more.

If like Simon you have a passion for butterflies and you'd like to learn more on how to identify the different types of butterfly that can be found in Yorkshire you can find out more on our website here