The Big Butterfly Count needs just 15 minutes of your time this week as the wildlife survey seeks to gain a better understanding of the UK’s butterfly populations, so scientists can help them in the future.

Who wouldn’t want to attract butterflies to their gardens? Not only are these winged insects incredibly beautiful to spot, but they’re vital pollinators, too. But butterfly populations in the UK have significantly declined since the 1970s, and they need your help.

Plus, butterfly declines are also an early warning for other wildlife loss, making the Big Butterfly Count an important way to help every critter in your wildlife garden. Here’s everything you need to get involved.

What is the Big Butterfly Count?

The Big Butterfly Count is run by the wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation and runs from 17 July to 9 August, making this the last week to get involved. And you really should, as Butterfly Conservation says the UK is currently in a butterfly emergency.

The survey was launched back in 2010 and has since become the world’s largest survey of butterflies. It’s important to get involved as butterflies are biodiversity indicators for scientists. This means that butterflies react very quickly to changes in their environment. So, if butterfly populations are declining, it means that nature is in trouble.

Counting butterflies helps scientists at Butterfly Conservation assess how much help the natural world needs. It helps them identify population trends and allows them to come up with a plan to help protect this beautiful species from extinction.

How to get involved

The good news is that it’s incredibly easy to get involved with the Big Butterfly Count, and even better, it’s great fun for the whole family, too. All you have to do is head outside and count butterflies for 15 minutes during a bright, preferably sunny day.

The survey encourages records from gardens, parks, meadows, school grounds and forests so don’t worry if you don’t have a garden, you can still get involved. However, the rules are slightly different if you’re counting in your garden, compared to out on a walk.

If counting from a fixed position in your garden, Butterfly Conservation says to; ‘count the maximum number of each species that you can see at a single time. For example, if you see three Red Admirals together on a buddleia bush then record it as 3, but if you only see one at a time then record it as 1 (even if you saw one on several occasions) – this is so that you don’t count the same butterfly more than once.’

When on a walk, simply total up the number of each species you spot during the 15 minutes. The charity has provided a list of target butterflies and day-flying moth species they’d like you to count and can help you identify. If you spot species not on the list, you can record it using the iRecord Butterflies app. If you don’t see any butterflies, it’s important to report this too as it can indicate a wider problem in your area.

How to make your garden butterfly-friendly

As well as getting involved in the count, you can also make your garden butterfly-friendly, too. For example, plants that attract butterflies, such as agastache or lavender. Or, create your own butterfly food to give them a boost during summer.

Butterflies are a welcome sight in any garden, but sadly need our help. Spending just 15 minutes counting different species in your garden can have a huge impact on what we know about how to conserve them.

A few years ago I flew to Sweden to see IKEA’s latest homeware collection launch, and at the time, the new LINDÅKRA sofa bed was by far my favourite product.

Like a lot of IKEA’s furniture, this £499 sofa bed is designed with small-space living in mind, and I thought its multifunctional design was genius.

It was very close to being the best sofa bed I’d tested. And as Ideal Home’s Sleep Editor, I’ve reviewed a lot of sofa beds over the past five years, so I don’t say that lightly.

However, there was one problem. I *really* didn’t like the colourways IKEA had chosen to upholster it in. Luckily, two years later, this sofa bed has just been relaunched in the ‘it’ colour of the year, and I for one couldn’t be happier to see its new look.

The LINDÅKRA sofa bed offers a *lot* of functionality. It’s a sofa, a sofa bed, and there’s a detachable pouffe with hidden storage that transforms the sofa into a chaise, or can be used as a coffee table or extra guest seating.

I could see it instantly becoming a bestseller when it launched in the UK. It’s perfect for those of us with small living rooms or small bedrooms, who still want to host overnight guests in style.

The only downside was those colour options. The sample on display at the press show was upholstered in *bright* orange fabric, and although it drew lots of attention at the press launch, it wasn’t a colour I could ever imagine having in my home.

Yes, I’m all in favour of statement furniture, but bright orange is a colour that’s very difficult to incorporate into most decor schemes, and I felt it would also date very quickly.

There was another ‘safer’ option: a dark grey. I didn’t hate this option, but I also didn’t love it. It felt very ‘bachelor pad’, and although there’s nothing wrong with that, it also wasn’t for me.

Two years later, as predicted, the LINDÅKRA has become one of IKEA’s most popular sofa beds. The sofa bed has a growing number of 5-star reviews on the IKEA website, and like me, its owners are clearly fans of the sofa bed’s versatile, multifunctional design.

‘We have a small living room, and this sofa is perfect!, says one reviewer. ‘Great storage space and the fact that you can move one part around is brilliant. Plenty of space to sleep too.’

And thankfully, its popularity also means that IKEA has just relaunched it in what I think is a *far* more versatile colour.

Now upholstered in a stylish sage green upholstery, this calming colour is one of the ‘it’ shades of 2026. And it’s a hue that interior designers and decor experts can’t get enough of.

In interiors, ‘sage green has become a go-to,’ says interior designer and Hutley & Humm co-founder, Melissa Hutley. ‘It’s very soft, versatile and easy to live with.’

‘The versatility and timeless nature of sage green makes it the perfect choice for larger pieces of furniture, like a sofa,’ agrees Shelley Cochrane, buyer at furniture retailer Furniture Village. ‘Green is an enduringly popular colour and will never go out of style.’

And this year, ‘lighter and fresher tones of green are proving to be particularly popular,’ says Shelley. ‘They’re a great way to bring the outdoors into the home, and act as an anchor for the space, providing a calm base that allows a variety of colours, patterns and textures to be layered into the scheme.’

Of course, the LINDÅKRA isn’t the only option if you want to make the most of this timeless shade.

I’ve rounded up some alternatives below, although it is worth noting that none of them offer *quite* as much functionality as IKEA’s LINDÅKRA does

In its new on-trend upholstery, I definitely think the LINDÅKRA now truly gives the best sofa beds and best chair beds on the market a run for their money.

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