Glasgow and SW Scotland Branch news

The campaign for the Westminster General Election is now well and truly in full swing! This time it feels different, and not just because of the intense debates around Brexit. After years of trying to secure political attention, the environment has finally burst through onto the political stage.

Scientists from Britain and Ireland who have been involved in compiling the newly published Atlas of Britain and Ireland’s Larger Moths have revealed that our moths are on the move.

As gardeners, we always tend to have one eye on the present, while looking forward to the future. It rarely stops, except in the depths of winter when everything that can be done, is done.

Scientists have discovered why climate change may be contributing to the decline of some British butterflies and moths, such as Silver-studded Blue and High Brown Fritillary butterflies.

No place like home: species are on the move, but many have nowhere to go.

The Butterfly Effect. In Gloucestershire, we've borrowed a term associated with Chaos Theory, a curious idea that postulates that a butterfly flapping its wings in one place could cause a massive storm elsewhere.

The ‘Moths’ at Home’ project, run by Butterfly Conservation Scotland and the South West Scotland Environmental Information Centre (SWSEIC), has published the results from a series of six moth trapping sessions.

The UK’s wildlife continues to decline according to the State of Nature 2019 report. The latest findings show that since rigorous scientific monitoring began in the 1970s there has been a 13% decline in average abundance across wildlife studied and that the declines continue unabated.

Butterfly Conservation has received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £74,200 for a new project, which will help get volunteers creating meadows for butterflies in central Scotland.

Numerous recent sightings of a moth that became extinct in the UK in the 1960s, suggest that it has recolonised and is now breeding across southern Britain.

In just three weeks this summer, nearly half a million Painted Lady butterflies were counted as part of the 10th UK-wide Big Butterfly Count, run by Butterfly Conservation and sponsored by B&Q.

UK wildlife charities have teamed up with England’s government advisor on natural environment to persuade local councils and landowners to help save our pollinators.

Climate change is causing a striking butterfly from southern Europe to appear in record-breaking numbers across the south of England, wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation can reveal.

Winnie the Pooh is encouraging families to enjoy the great outdoors this summer by joining Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count.

A beautiful blue butterfly which has been struggling for the last 40 years could be making a comeback in Scotland.

Butterfly Conservation Scotland are calling on nature enthusiasts to look for the Small Tortoiseshell and other species at Edinburgh's last peatbog -  the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Red Moss of Balerno reserve.

Chris Packham is urging wildlife lovers to take part in the world’s largest insect citizen science survey to help reveal if the UK is experiencing a once in a decade butterfly phenomenon.

A previously extinct butterfly has bred successfully in an English woodland for the first time in more than 40 years as part of the ambitious conservation project, Back from the Brink.

Children across Scotland’s towns and cities are being given the chance to reconnect with nature as part of a new project by wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation (BC).

Around three-quarters of the Scottish population (74%) have some negative opinion of moths, with many people believing the majority eat clothes and are pests, a study has revealed.

Moth numbers have declined over the last 25 years in Scotland while their distribution has increased, a report has revealed. 

UK butterflies bounced back in 2018 following a string of poor years, thanks in part to last year’s heatwave summer, a study has revealed.

Street lighting operating all night can alter the natural pollination of a common wildflower, a study involving Butterfly Conservation (BC) has revealed.

Read here for the latest developments on the controversial plans to create a golf course at Coul Links near Embo, Sutherland, in the Highlands of Scotland. 

BC has joined with a number of other organisations to try and protect the wide range of wildlife found at the site.

A butterfly once restricted to a small part of Scotland is making a comeback by expanding its range in the countryside and moving into cities like Edinburgh and more recently, Aberdeen.

In July 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May announced that the Government would bring forward an Environment Bill. Butterfly Conservation (BC) understand that Defra are working on the draft of the Bill, to cover England and reserved matters in devolved countries, and this will be published before Christmas.

A moth normally associated with southern England and Wales has been discovered in Scotland for the first time.

Scientists have discovered that moths may play a much broader role as plant pollinators than previously suspected.

Numbers of one of the UK’s best known garden butterflies have plummeted this summer despite the record-breaking hot weather, results from the Big Butterfly Count have revealed.

One of Scotland’s most striking butterflies, the Peacock, has experienced a record summer as it thrived in heatwave conditions, results from the Big Butterfly Count revealed.