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Thank you so much for taking part in our consultation, gathering your ideas for what the Council and others can do to help nature. These ideas are feeding into the development of our Action Plan, which we plan to publish later in the summer.
The areas that you chose, and the broad themes of your comments, alongside conversations with other conservation and access organisations, have informed our Biodiversity Strategy. This sets out the objectives for the keys themes, and how we are going to work with you, and other organisations, to achieve them, and the Action Plan is just one part of this Strategy. Consultation on this new Strategy has just launched, and can be found here: https://camdenbiodiversitystrategy.commonplace.is/ and is open until the 14th May 2021.
We are going to leave this map-based consultation open to allow those who missed it the first time round to add their ideas to them map in response to the Strategy consultation. You are also of course welcome to add further comments to the map if anything in the new draft strategy gives you an idea or thought on a place.
Thank you again.
Greg Hitchcock, Nature Conservation Officer, London Borough of Camden
The Big Butterfly Count is a UK-wide survey that helps assess the health of our environment, and you can help simply by counting the amount and type of butterflies (and some day-flying moths) you see. Information on how to take part, including a downloadable identification guide, can be found HERE .
Butterfly counts are welcome from anywhere: from parks, school grounds, allotments or other green spaces, so you don't need a garden to take part. Over 30 species of butterfly have been recorded in Camden, but there are still gaps in our knowledge, and many of our parks only have one or two records. The more we know about where they are the more we can help them. A list of Camden's main Parks can be found HERE .
This time of year has been chosen for the Big Butterfly Count because most butterflies are at the adult stage of their lifecycle, so more likely to be seen, but after this weekend you can still watch and record butterflies - you can even continue to use the identification sheet provided for the Count. You can submit records of what you see to Greenspace Information for Greater London or using an website or App like iRecord .
If you've not tried to identify butterflies before don't get frustrated if they won't sit still and you're struggling to tell them apart - just remember to enjoy yourself.
It's going to be really hot this weekend, so remember to put on suncream and wear a hat. Butterflies don't like it when it's too hot either, so avoiding the hottest part of the day this weekend is probably a good idea!
Happy butterfly watching - and if you come up with any ideas or thoughts while counting butterflies don't forget to add them to the Camden Biodiversity Map!
Greg