ALT A hand wearing a white glove, spraying pesticides over a yellow flower and white butterfly, set against a black background. Large text overlay has the word 'weed' crossed out and 'Butterfly Killer' underneath. Smaller text below reads: 'Call on UK retailers to halt the sale of butterfly-harming chemicals. Sign our open letter.' Butterfly Conservation logo features at the top of the graphic.
ALT A peat bog speckled with the white flowers of cottongrass, green areas of Sphagnum moss and grasses
ALT Small Copper butterfly perched on grass with blue sky and greenery in the background
ALT Like its relative, A. punctidactyla, the hindwing has two patches of black scales on its dorsum, which protrude when the rest of the hindwing is covered by the forewing. Amblyptilia acanthadactyla may be distinguished by its warm reddish brown colour from the greyish brown of A. punctidactyla.
ALT Day flying moths: cinnabar, forester, clouded buff, speckled yellow, silver Y, orange underwing, burnet companion, common heath, six-spot burnet,
ALT Meadow of wildflowers with words 'where have all the insects gone?'
ALT Garden butterflies ID guide
ALT Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count identification guide with photos of each species
ALT Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count identification guide in Welsh with photos of each species
ALT Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count identification guide for Scotland with photos of each species
ALT Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count identification guide in Irish with photos of each species
ALT The swift is black all over, with a small, pale patch on its throat. Looking a bit like a boomerang when in the air, it is very sociable and can often be spotted in groups wheeling over roofs and calling to each other with high-pitched screams. It is larger than swallows and martins (which have white undersides) and, unlike them, does not perch on wires, buildings or trees.
ALT Common cockchafer / Maybug (Melolontha melolontha), crawling on garden bench with house in background
ALT Caterpillar ID guide
ALT The classic ladybird, found in parks and gardens across the UK. It’s a large ladybird, usually 5-8mm long. It has red wing cases, with three black spots on each side and a seventh spot in the middle, just behind the pronotum. Look for it on low-growing plants.
ALT This attractive little ladybird is widespread in most of the UK, though scarcer in Scotland. It’s around 4mm long and usually yellow with black markings. The wings cases have rectangular black spots that often fuse together to form lines. It’s usually found close to the ground, amongst grasses and flowers.
ALT This distinctive ladybird is found across the UK. It’s around 6mm long and orange all over, with 12-16 white spots on its wing cases. It feeds on mildew on leaves and is often seen around sycamore and ash trees.
ALT The UK’s largest ladybird, growing to around 8.5mm. It’s widespread in the UK, but not often seen. It spends much of its time in the canopy of conifer trees, particularly Scots pine, hunting aphids. Its wing cases are dark red, usually with 15 black spots – though spots can vary from zero to 23. The spots usually have pale rings around them.