European Butterflies Group news

Wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation celebrates six years of the incredibly successful ‘Bog Squad’ initiative this March.

Butterfly Conservation are shocked and deeply saddened at the recent murders of Mexican butterfly activists Homero Gómez González and Raúl Hernández Romero.

The long-awaited publication of a landmark Agriculture Bill in parliament is a crucial piece of legislation which will have profound implications for the butterflies, moths, wildlife and wider environment of England.

Our work seeks to help the development of new land management support schemes by combining the latest scientific evidence and Butterfly Conservation’s practical experience of working with farmers and land owners on the ground.

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 European Butterflies Group, European Butterflies 2020 Calendar is available to purchase, £8 each or £15 for two, plus postage from: [email protected] , or from the Annual General Meeting and Members Day at the IBIS hotel in Birmingham on Saturday 12th October.

Cover photo, Dryad ( Minois dryas ) by Nigel Kiteley.

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.

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.

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.

This photographic guide helps to identify the Large and Medium Fritillaries (Argynnis, Brenthis, Issoria) and separate them from the Small Fritillaries (Boloria, Euphydryas and Melitaea). 

The following species are described in detail: Cardinal [Argynnis pandora], Silver-washed Fritillary [Argynnis paphia], Dark Green Fritillary [Argynnis aglaja], High Brown Fritillary [Argynnis adippe], Niobe Fritillary [Argynnis niobe], Queen of Spain Fritillary [Issoria lathonia], Marbled Fritillary [Brenthis daphne], Lesser Marbled Fritillary [Brenthis ino], Twin-spot Fritillary [Brenthis hecate], Corsican Fritillary [Argynnis elisa], Pallas’s Fritillary [Argynnis laodice]   

The guide is available to download as a free PDF from the European Butterflies Group website.

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.

An updated checklist of European Butterflies has just been published. See here for the link to the article:  https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/28712/. 

Article by: Martin Wiemers, Emilio Balletto, Vlad Dincă, Zdenek Faltynek Fric, Gerardo Lamas, Vladimir Lukhtanov, Miguel L. Munguira, Chris A.M. van Swaay, Roger Vila, Albert Vliegenthart, Niklas Wahlberg, Rudi Verovnik.

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.

The European Butterflies Group Calendar is available to purchase from [email protected], £8 each or £15 for two plus postage, or from our Annual General Meeting in Birmingham on Saturday 1st December 2018. Featured picture, Southern Hermit by Barry Staley from the month of November.

Constanti Stefanescu has received the European Marsh Award 2018.

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.

Scottish Ministers have “called-in” plans for a golf course at Coul Links near Embo, East Sutherland after deciding that the case is of ‘national importance’.