In spring we warned that British butterflies were on a terrible decline. So how come we saw so many of them this summer?

This spring, I wrote a story about how once there were swarms of butterflies in our skies – but these days we never see the butterflies we remember from the hot summers of our childhood.

This was not just nostalgia. Last summer was the worst year for butterflies for more than 25 years. In 2008, 12 of our dwindling band of 59 resident species flew in smaller numbers than at any time since records began in the mid 70s. Popular ...

Read the whole story on Environment: Wildlife | guardian.co.uk