Nearly half a million Painted Lady Butterflies have been counted as part of the 10th UK-wide Big Butterfly Count.

Over 113,500 people took part in this year's Big Butterfly Count, which ran for three weeks over the summer, spotting nearly 1.6 million butterflies.

Unusually high numbers of the migratory butterfly arrive in the UK about once every decade. The last time the natural phenomenon occurred, known as a 'Painted Lady Year' was back in 2009. It is still too early to tell how 2019 compares.

The results also shed light on how other butterflies are faring. Several species were aided by the hot summer, including Red Admiral, Gatekeeper and marbled white. Peacock butterflies had their best summer since 2014 and were up a massive 235% on the numbers spotted in 2018.

Over 200,000 Peacock Butterflies were spotted this year.

Scientists remain concerned for the prospects of the Small Tortoiseshell's long-term future, despite having their best year since 2014. Numbers have decreased by 78% since the 1970s and have likely been declining for a longer period.

Butterfly Conservation’s Associate Director of Recording and Research, Richard Fox, said: 'Last year the Small Tortoiseshell experienced its worst summer in the history of the Big Butterfly Count, so to see its numbers jump up by 167% this year is a big relief.'

The Small Tortoiseshell

Interestingly, twice as many Small Tortoiseshells were spotted in Scotland and Northern Ireland by Big Butterfly Counters than in England.

'We’re still trying to establish what is behind the long-term decline of the Small Tortoiseshell.' Richard continues, 'While it is good news that the butterfly fared better this summer, the poor results in southern England, in particular, suggest that climate change may be having more of an impact on this species than we have previously realised.'

Common white and blue species all experienced slumps this summer, including Large White, Small White, Common Blue and Green-veined butterflies.

These species all had a good year in 2018, which may have led to a boost in the numbers of parasitic wasps this year.

Big Butterfly Count 2019 – top 10 species ranking (UK)

Top Ten UK Species and Numbers Seen

Painted Lady - 420,842

2 . Peacock - 207,814

3 . Small White - 179,715

4 . Gatekeeper - 161,987

5 . Large White - 138,671

6 . Meadow Brown - 110,858

7 . Red Admiral - 91,146

8 . Small Tortoiseshell - 70,704

9 . Speckled Wood - 33,015

10 . Green-veined White - 32,965