Anyone who has spent time in Corfu and has seen the island's fireflies will know what a magical experience it is to walk amongst these naturally occurring invertebrate lanterns. However, it might surprise you to know that we don't really know how many species of these insects there are on Corfu.

We are sure there are at least two species of luminescent insects on the island (Luciola lusitanica and Lampyris noctiluca) but Giannis Gasteratos has photographed what he thinks may be a third&

Furthermore, Peter Sutton's observations during his 25-year research program on Corfu, suggest that the population sizes and distributions of these once common insects may have diminished. This is of course a little worrying and it begs the question are they really in decline and if so, why?

In this respect, fireflies, like butterflies and moths may act like biodiversity barometers, the canaries in the coal mines if you like, which may indicate when environmental conditions could be deteriorating.

Either way, Corfu Butterfly Conservation is confident that most would agree the loss of Corfu's fluorescent fireflies would be a tragedy and so we are asking you to record your sightings of glowing insects, wherever and whenever you may see them.

If you can send us a photograph of the beetles you see, so much the better because you may help us determine what species we really have on the island but this is not essential. Please don't try to catch them – we just want a record of them in their natural habitat. The more we learn about the island's firefly populations, the more likely it is that we will be able to comment on their status and suggest policies for their conservation.

We aim to release the data, collected by the public, of the butterflies and moths they have seen in Corfu in the form of the Corfu Butterfly Atlas. However, in the case of the fireflies, all the data the public enters through our website will be immediately accessible, giving you an opportunity to see the distribution map and phenology (flight period) diagrams of all the island's fireflies.

So, as Lee Durrell, Corfu Butterfly Conservation's ambassador, assures us Gerald Durrell would have been amongst the first to ask, please help us keep the lights on!