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They're beautiful, bright and we have some brilliant news about them - we're talking about butterflies!

The results for the annual UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme are out, and it's positive news for the butterfly community.

They're at their highest levels in more than 20 years.

There was an increase in butterfly numbers for more than half of UK species in 2019 compared with 2018.

Researchers think the weather had a big part to play in this.

We had a warm and wet summer in 2019 which helped butterflies in their younger stages and when they emerged from their cocoons as adults.

More than 3,000 sites were monitored across the UK by a team of volunteers.

They found the Marbled White Butterfly had its best year, with numbers up by 66%.

However, it's not all good news, the Common Blue dropped by 54% - and it was just one of several species that saw a decline in numbers,

Professor Tom Brereton, associate director of monitoring and research at Butterfly Conservation, said butterfly numbers were still a cause for concern but added: "The results from the 2019 season are really encouraging and provide evidence that the overall rate of decline of butterflies is slowing and for some species being reversed.

"We're really heartened to see a shift in the fortunes of many of our most loved species."