A BUTTERFLY locked in an evolutionary struggle with a killer wasp has bounced back this summer following a series of steep declines, results from the Big Butterfly Count have revealed.

The holly blue, a common garden butterfly, experienced its best Big Butterfly Count since 2010, with a 151% increase in numbers compared to 2014, according to the world’s largest insect citizen science survey.

Butterfly Conservation’s head of recording, Richard Fox, said: “One of the highlights of this year’s Count was the Holly Blue. This delightful, azure-blue butterfly was much more common this summer in gardens town parks and in the countryside. I didn’t see a single one last summer but they seemed to be everywhere this year. I even found its eggs on ivy buds in my garden.”

* Further information is available from.bigbutterflycount.org