Naturalists including Sir David Attenborough have been encouraging the public to take part in the largest count of its kind. From a cabbage white butterfly that flew in and headed straight for a horseradish to the beauty of nature, all these pictures will leave you breathless.

Check them out for more information and start to see our world through photos!

‘The sun was low and I was lazily clicking away with my camera in the garden in Putney, London, when a cabbage white butterfly flew in and headed straight for this horseradish. The light caught them both at the right moment.’ Cabbage whites – a catch-all term for large white and small white butterflies – are often described as the bane of an allotment holder’s life.

Photograph: Stewart Cowley/GuardianWitness

‘Small white on a nasturtium leaf near my house in Dinton, Buckinghamshire.’

Photograph: Elaine Stavert/GuardianWitness

‘Common blue in my Taunton garden.’ This is a male, which Butterfly Conservation says is the slightly more conspicuous sex, but the hue giving the species its name is more visible on the upper wings.

Photograph: Mary Chaloner

‘An orange tip seen in Treskilling, Cornwall, that, for some reason, decided my hand was preferable to a plant!’ This is a male, told by the orange tip, which females of the species don’t have.

Photograph: Alec Carpenter

‘A welcome garden visitor enjoying the jasmine on Saturday morning, 14 July, between Bristol and Bath.’ This is a comma butterfly, a species which, according to Butterfly Conservation, has undergone a significant comeback after rapid decline in the 20th century.

Photograph: Lynne Gillard

Another angle: ‘European Comma on my Echinacea purpurea in Dunton, Buckinghamshire. There seem to be many more butterflies in my herb garden this year.’

Photograph: Elaine Stavert/GuardianWitness

‘Valezina form of silver washed fritillary, taken at Clanger and Picket Woods, Heywood, Wiltshire. The wonderful chalk and ancient forest habitats around where I live have some of the UK’s rarer butterflies, and so far this year I’ve seen 33 species. I record all sightings to Wiltshire Butterfly Conservation as monitoring of numbers is crucial at a time we’re losing species.’

Photograph: Luke Hepples

‘Enjoying life at Croome, near High Green, Worcester.’

Photograph: C.A.Jones

‘The beauty of nature, this picture was taken in Parkgate, Wirral, on 22 July.’ There are several butterflies in the blue family in the UK, this most likely being a male common blue.

Photograph: Neil Francis