Butterfly Conservation

That's a wrap on 2024! 🎉 We'd like to say a huge thank you to all of our funders, partners, supporters and members and everyone who has supported our work this year. We couldn't have achieved any of this without you. 💚🦋 Let's make 2025 the biggest year for butterflies and moths yet! #SaveButterflies #MothsMatter

Missed our UK Moth Recorders’ Meeting this year? All the brilliant talks from the day are now available to watch back on our YouTube channel! Grab a cuppa and catch up here 👉 https://lnkd.in/d4CNkXSS #UKMRM #MothsMatter

Nominations are now OPEN for the Marsh Charitable Trust Volunteer Awards 2025! 🏆🦋 We are incredibly lucky to have a huge number of volunteers supporting the work we do across the UK, from recording and monitoring to practical conservation work, through engagement activities and admin support. Know a volunteer who deserves recognition for their commitment to saving butterflies, moths and the environment? 📣 Nominate them here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eAvrCX78 Nomination forms close on Friday 21 February. 📷: Sylvie Belbouab, Louise Batchelor

Look out for the Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) this month 🤩 The females are completely wingless, or apterous, a feature which is often found in moths which emerge in the winter months. Once emerged, the females will climb up the trunk of a tree and use pheremones to attract a mate. 📣 This winter wonder is fairly common in England and Wales but scarcer elsewhere in Britain. 📷: Iain H Leach, Garry Barlow, Ryszard Szczygieł #MothMonday #MothsMatter

This week Butterfly Conservation's Wales team were delighted to welcome the First Minister of Wales to a site where we are working with dedicated volunteers to save the endangered High Brown Fritillary. 🦋 The project is a part of Wales’ flagship species recovery partnership, Natur am Byth!, and aims to work with farmers to boost the insect's natural habitat. Read more about the project 👉 https://lnkd.in/eDFpcCCd 📷: Tall and Short, Paul Dunn #NaturAmByth The National Lottery Heritage Fund Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru / Natural Resources Wales

Today is the day of our annual UK Moth Recorders' Meeting! 🙌 We're looking forward a packed programme of fascinating talks, including the latest updates from the National Moth Recording Scheme. If you are unable to join us today, don't worry! The meeting will be available to watch back on our YouTube channel soon. 📷: Les Evans-Hill #UKMRM #MothsMatter

It's a win for butterflies! 🦋 A HUGE thank you to all 42,601 of you who joined us in the fight against neonicotinoid pesticides. Yesterday’s announcement that permission will not be granted for emergency use this year – the first time in five years permission has not been granted - is a testament to your incredible support. However, the #ButterflyEmergency is not over. 🚨 Defra have not yet committed to a permanent ban on emergency use of these harmful pesticides and, with butterflies in crisis, it is vital that the Government also declare a nature emergency and take further action to support our declining species. With your help we will keep up the momentum we have built together and continue to remove all barriers to nature’s recovery. 💚

BREAKING NEWS - We did it! 📢🦋 The use of neonicotinoid pesticides has been refused for this year. Thank you to the 42,601 supporters of the #ButterflyEmergency who helped make this happen. This historic decision finally brings to an end 5 years of toxic neonicotinoid use, thanks to tireless campaigning from communities up and down the country. Today is proof that we can bring butterflies back from the brink through collective actions like this. 🙌 This announcement is an important first step, but the Butterfly Emergency has not gone. Together we will continue fighting for our pollinators, holding the Government accountable to supporting farmers to transition to nature-friendly farming. We couldn’t have achieved this without you – thank you!

Did you catch Butterfly Conservation Youth Panel member Leanna talking about marvellous moths on #Winterwatch this evening? Unlike other moths which need to warm their bodies to over 30 degrees Celsius to fly, the Winter Moth seems to be able to use its unusually low body weight compared to the size of its wings to its advantage and fly even when its body temperature is close to the temperature outside. ❄️ Research suggests that because their large wings don’t need to beat as fast as some other moths to keep their relatively light body in the air, their muscles don’t need to be warmed up to work efficiently. They can even fly when it’s close to freezing! Yet it's only the males that have this trick as the females are completely flightless! Their wings have been reduced to tiny nubs, so they await the arrival of the males which they attract using pheromones they release into the air. 💅 📷: Antony Wren, Rob Blanken #MothsMatter

Forget 'Blue Monday'! Today we're celebrating #BlueBugs with the stunning Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus) 💙🦋 This small butterfly is found mainly in heathland where the silvery-blue wings of the males provide a marvellous sight as they fly low over the heather. The females are brown and far less conspicuous but, like the males, have distinct metallic spots on the hindwing. Most Silver-studded Blue colonies are found in Southern England, but some colonies are present in Wales, the East of England and on Prees Heath Reserve in Shropshire. 📷: Nigel Ball