News Items

Vince Massimo's latest study on the immature stages of the Painted Lady is now available here.

From the publisher: This book is a complete guide to the butterflies of the Villars-Gryon region in the Alpes Vaudoises of Switzerland. All species known to occur in the area are presented with full-colour photographs and descriptions, enabling even a beginner to identify every butterfly encountered. A visual index guides the reader to the relevant pages and a fully illustrated checklist extends the book's coverage to the whole of Switzerland. Click here to read the review.

Congratulations to Mark Searle, overall winner in the 2019 UK Butterflies Annual Photography Competition! With a superb photo of a pair of Common Blues, Mark wins a signed copy of Life Cycles of British & Irish Butterflies which has been kindly donated by Nature Bureau. Click here to see all of the winning entries.

From the publisher: This concise guide is a companion to the 'Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland' by the same expert authors, but is in a condensed form with artwork opposite the species descriptions and lay-flat binding for ease of use in the field. Featuring more than 1,700 superbly detailed colour artworks and covering nearly 900 species, this portable guide is an essential addition to every moth-lover's field kit. Click here to read the review.

From the publisher: Around 25 million moth records from Butterfly Conservation's National Moth Recording Scheme and Moths Ireland have been combined to produce this landmark publication - the first ever atlas of all macro-moths in Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The atlas includes accounts for 866 macro-moth species, each with a distribution map showing current and historical occurrences, trends, status, a phenology chart and colour image. Click here to read the review.

From the publisher: This new and expanded edition, the most complete guide to insects ever published, now has 544 pages and covers over 2300 species with updated maps & over 2900 colour photographs throughout, with fully comprehensive sections on all insect groups, including beetles (108 pages), flies (100 pages), ants, bees & wasps (86 pages). Click here to read the review.

From the publisher: With detailed descriptions and photos of the adult, egg, caterpillar and chrysalis of each species, this book provides unique insights into a hidden world, illustrated with over 1,300 high-quality colour photos that reveal the subtle beauty in something as small as a butterfly egg. Butterflies are infinitely fascinating. What may start as a simple hobby of photographing the adult insects can evolve into a deep interest in their immature stages, ecology and conservation and this book will help light your way. Click here to read the review by Michael Blencowe.

From the publisher: At the end of July 2019 Paul and Helen visited The Montes Universales in Eastern Spain with Greenwings Holidays in search of some Spanish Specialities and endemic butterfly species of the area. The 6 day trip took place in the last few days of July and into August to coincide with the emergence of Zapater's Ringlet, an endemic species of the area. Click here to read the review.

"The Silver-studded Blue is often considered to be a sedentary species, not moving more than 50 m during its life. However, based on recent research and my own experience from Surrey, this is not the case". Click here to read this new article by Harry E. Clarke.

From the publisher: The first ever comprehensive book about the naming of British butterflies and moths. This beautiful book, written with Peter Marren's usual wit and insight, takes you on a journey back to a time before the arts and science were divided. When entomologists were also poets and painters, and when a gift for vivid language went hand-in-hand with a deep pre-Darwinian fascination for the emerging natural world. Click here to read the review.

The UK Butterflies 2019 Photography Competition is now open for entries! In keeping with the online nature of the UK Butterflies website, the competition itself will be conducted entirely over the web. The competition closes on November 30th and the winning photos will be announced in early December. Click here for information on how to enter.

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. The wildlife charity can confirm that 2019 has been a 'Painted Lady Year' - a natural phenomenon that happens about once in a decade, when unusually high numbers of this migratory butterfly arrive in the UK. The number seen in this year's Big Butterfly Count was almost 30 times greater than in the 2018 survey. Click here for more details.

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. More than 50 Long-tailed Blues and hundreds of the butterfly's eggs have been discovered over the last few weeks, which could result in the largest ever emergence of the butterfly in UK history. Click here for more details.

A report for a Greenwings Wildlife Holidays trip to French Alps, Mercantour, Queyras, 29 June to 13 July 2019 is now available. Click here to read the report.

A report for a Greenwings Wildlife Holidays trip to Piedmont Alps, 13th - 22nd June 2019 is now available. Click here to read the report.

A report for a Greenwings Wildlife Holidays trip to Eastern French Pyrenees, 20th - 30th May 2019 is now available. Click here to read the report.

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. More than two-thirds of UK butterfly species (39 of 57) were seen in higher numbers than in 2017, with two of the UK’s rarest, the Large Blue and Black Hairstreak, recording their best years since records began. Click here for more details.

From the publisher: This is an all regions, original film, of butterflies in Western Switzerland. Easily accessible butterfly sites in Bern, Geneva, Jura, Ticino, Valais and Vaud are visited, including the Lütschine Valley, Laubach Valley, Allondon Valley, Tabeillon Valley, Melezza Valley, Rhone Valley, Val d'Anniviers, Trient Valley, Vispa Valley and Saas Valley. A full range of habitat is featured, including Woodland, Wetland, Rocky Steppe, Mountain and High Mountain. Butterfly subspecies found in specific locations are highlighted. Rare butterflies filmed include: Asian Fritillary, Bath White, Cardinal, Grison's Fritillary, Large Copper, Large Tortoiseshell, Poplar Admiral, Scarce Large Blue and Woodland Brown. A species list, site by site is included. Click here to read the review.