LAST summer provided a welcome boost to butterfly populations, according to the latest survey.

And this year, people in Basingstoke are experiencing a higher number of butterflies populating their garden.

A resident from Kings Furlong, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Gazette: "Whenever I am in my garden, there are so many butterfies hovering over my vegetable patch.

"It is like a return of the butterflies, unlike anything I have experienced before."

The resident remembers the "painted lady year", with almost half a million of the migratory butterflies recorded in 2019.

Results from members of the public participating in the survey run by Butterfly Conservation have allowed the wildlife to confirm that 2019 was a year when unusually high numbers of painted ladies ended up in the UK.

Results from the Big Butterfly Count, which took place over three weeks in the summer, show that the number of painted lady butterflies was almost 30 times greater than in 2018.

"And it's like 2019 is happening all over again.

"I don't mind them flying in the garden, it just seems like deja vu, as we have returned to a time when butterflies are increasing in numbers at a rate of knots," she said.