Donal Hickey: Why so few butterflies this year?

Most adult butterflies only live for around two weeks anyway and factors such as habitat loss and an increase in wasps and other preying insects may also contribute to a scarcity of butterflies this summer

Red Admiral butterfly. Picture: Mark Searle/Butterfly Conservation/PA Wire

Many people have been noticing a scarcity of butterflies this summer. It doesn’t seem summer without them, but then again there is also a definite shortage of the heat we hope for at this time!

Some readers blame the unseasonably cooler weather for keeping butterflies away. And that, indeed, may be at least part of the reason.