CLARKSON'S Farm star Jeremy Clarkson has been asking why he has seen so few butterflies in his fields.

The former Top Gear star noticed a lack of butterflies while walking in the fields surrounding Diddly Squat Farm - and a Worcestershire expert has revealed why numbers have declined this year.

Clarkson posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Just been for a walk round the farm and I’m a bit alarmed by how few butterflies there are.

"Something is afoot."

Insect numbers have been declining for decades with 41 per cent at risk of extinction in the UK. 

Factors affecting insects include loss of habitat, use of pesticides and climate change.

But this year butterflies have had another challenge - the weather. 

Butterflies and other insects need warm and dry weather to emerge and this year's spring and summer have not provided these conditions. 

Wendy Carter from the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust said: "We’ve had a slow start to summer this year, with cool temperatures and lots of rain in spring and early summer.

"Butterflies, bees and other insects need warm dry weather in order to emerge and fly.

"However, the lack of butterflies and other insects this year isn’t just a one off and 41% of our insects here in the UK are at risk of extinction."

"Many of our butterflies, bees and other insects are seeing year-on-year declines and the reasons for this are many.

"The loss and fragmentation of the habitats that insects need for food and shelter plays a substantial role in the threat to insects but an increase in the use of pesticides on farmland and in gardens over time, intensification of land-use and development as well as climate change are also having huge impacts."

For ideas on how to help insects and butterflies, click here.

The Worcestershire Wildlife Trust encouraged people to play their part by leaving patches of lawn a little longer before cutting and stopping the use of pesticides. 

The former Top Gear presenter purchased Chadlington’s Diddly Squat Farm in 2008 and took the reins in the past few years

Day-to-day life on the farm has been documented in three seasons of the hit Prime Video show Clarkson’s Farm since 2021.