Common Blue butterflies in Burgess Park

Big City Butterflies is an exciting new project which will inspire Londoners to discover butterflies and moths, and connect them with nature and their local green spaces.

The people we reach will have opportunities to learn about butterflies and moths, how to seek them out and to help them thrive in their neighbourhoods. We are thrilled to have secured funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for this four year project starting in May 2021. Delivered across London's inner Boroughs, the project presents a huge opportunity to test new approaches to butterfly and moth conservation in a major urban landscape. People - their needs, interests and behaviours are as important to the project as the 'traditional' conservation practices of habitat management, surveying and monitoring.  

London is home to a surprising diversity of butterflies and moths. Twenty-five of the UK's 59 butterfly species can be spotted in the capital. To celebrate the launch of our project, download our free family guide to the city's butterflies and moths and enjoy seeing what you can spot in your local park.

Big City Butterflies Family Guide

Butterfly Sculptures

Butterfly Sculpture Hide and Seek!

To celebrate the launch of Big City Butterflies this half term, we have hidden some special butterfly sculptures around some of London's green spaces for you to find. If you spot one, simply take a photo and upload it to social media (Twitter, Facebook or Instagram) with #BigCityButterflies. You will be entered in to a free prize draw! See here for terms and conditions. 

One lucky winner will receive a £100 Voucher for our Butterfly Conservation clothing store, while 50 runners up will receive an I-Spy Butterflies and Moths book. A list of participating green spaces can be found below but if your local park isn't hiding a sculpture you can still get out and look for the real thing! Don't forget to download our free family pack before you go.

Butterfly Sculptures can be found in: The Albany Gardens (Lewisham), Bandstand Beds (Lambeth), Brockwell Park (Lambeth), Burgess Park (Southwark), Claybury Park (Redbridge), Eastbrookend Country Park (Dagenham), Gladstone Park (Brent), Grove Park Nature Reserve (Lewisham), Holland Park (Kensington & Chelsea), Meanwhile Gardens (Kensington & Chelsea), Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park (Tower Hamlets).

How will the project work?

Through the development work for the project carried out in 2019, sites (parks, commons, heaths, community green spaces) across London's inner boroughs have been selected to form a focus for project activities. We'll be working together with the owners and managers and associated volunteer groups to see how best the project can support them. We are busy making contacts with groups within the surrounding communities including schools, 'friends' groups and other groups of volunteers.

The project will draw on the local knowledge and expertise of four Butterfly Conservation Branches, Surrey and SW London, Kent and SE London, Herts and Middlesex, Cambridge and Essex.

The three strands of our project are described below. You can contact our Project Officers below and follow them on Twitter @BigCButterflies and Instagram @bigcitybutterflies.

Eleanor Johnstone (Engagement Officer) ejohnstone@butterfly-conservation.org

Steve Bolton (Conservation Officer) sbolton@butterfly-conservation.org

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