Red Admiral spotting: desperately seeking a British butterfly revival

It was a damp day on Denbies Hillside in the North Downs, but is the outlook now better for the insect?By any standards, it was a poor day to count butterflies. Denbies Hillside, on the south-facing flank of the North Downs – supposedly a summer haven for lepidopterists – was swept by wind and heavy showers. Butterflies, like humans, take a poor view of such conditions and had made themselves scarce.Such are the discomforts of involvement in the Big Butterfly Count. The national surv