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and welcome to British Butterflies |
Everyone loves to see butterflies in the spring and summer... colourful jewels which brighten our day... but have you noticed something missing?
Some of our most common butterflies such as the Small Tortoiseshell to our rarest such as the High Brown Fritillary are at serious risk due to habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, pollution and global warming.
Many butterfly species are now declining at an alarming rate.
Butterflies and Moths are key indicators of the state of the natural world because of their short life-spans and complex lifecycles. Their lifecycles (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly) each have specific environmental needs in order to survive each stage, reach adulthood and produce the next generation. Their presence or absence provides a rapid and undeniable indication of the health of the environment.
With the loss of traditional farming methods, the use of mechanical hedge cutters and insecticides, our countryside has lost much of its wildlife. Our soils are often devoid of life and incapable of naturally supporting food production. Instead our farmers now rely almost entirely on oil based fertilisers.
This web site is result of many hours work and a passion for some of our most beautiful yet delicate creatures which desperately need our help. I hope that visitors to this web site will be encouraged to learn more about our natural world and appreciate and value wild places and the creatures we share our world with.
I hope you will be inspired to join the fight to save our butterflies and moths. Join Butterfly Conservation, a UK charity, dedicated to saving butterflies, moths and their habitats and you could help make a big difference. There are branches across the UK who need your help.
Steven Cheshire -
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 Satyrium was established in order to provide environmental habitat management and wildlife survey services... more |
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| Support this web site |
Visitors to this web site can help to support it in a number of simple ways. Tell your friends, relatives and and colleagues about this web site, link to the site from your own or spread the word via facebook or similar social networking sites.
Alternatively, if you value this web site, consider supporting us to help cover the running costs so that it remains a free educational resource for everyone.
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Butterflies in your region |
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Seen a butterfly but not sure what species it is? Narrow down your search by selecting the appropriate region from the map below to see which species can be seen in that area. |
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Butterflies in
March
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| There are 5 species of butterfly which may be seen during
March
in Britain. |
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| British Butterfly Flight Charts |
| Knowing what time of year to look for a particular butterfly can be extremely useful. Click on a month to see which butterflies are on the wing. |
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| Do you like this web site? |
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Submit your own comments about my web site and read comments by other visitors here. |
| 22/09/2009 |
by Aidan |
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A great website for a total novice like me to identify the beautiful PEACOCK butterfly sunning itself on my drive. Thanks for... more |
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| 11/09/2009 |
by Mark Osborne |
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I just wanted to say what a lovely site you've put together. Visually very easy on the eye, easy to navigate, and just the ri... more |
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| Top 10 British Butterflies |
| This list represents the 10 most common butterfly species which most people are likely to encounter in Britain, in their gardens, on holiday and in the countryside. Have you seen all 10? That's just the start, there is actually 59 species of butterfly which breed in Britain, some are extremely rare as a result of habitat loss, and others can only be found in certain parts of the country. |
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National Annual Events |
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Save Our Butterflies Week
2010 date to be announced |
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National Moth Night
15th May 2010 |
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Garden Moths Count
2010 date to be announced |
| More information about these events available here. |
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Downloads Page |
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The first downloadable document is now available on the brand new British Butterflies Downloads page, which was launched in August 2009.
Each document will target a specific area of study, ideal for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of British Butterflies or improving their identification and field skills. |
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Aberrant forms and variations |
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Small Copper ab. caeruleopunctata |
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 The aberrant form 'caeruleopunctata ()' presents itself as additional blue scales towards the rear of the upper surface of the hind wing inside the orange border. These blue flecks of colour are not present in the vast majority of Small Coppers.
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| Find out more about aberrant forms and variations or view a list of named aberrants. |
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Protected species |
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Six species of butterfly, the Heath Fritillary, Large Blue,
Swallowtail, Marsh Fritillary, Large
Copper and High
Brown Fritillary are fully protected by law in the UK.
Due to habitat loss, these species have become
very rare in the UK or have suffered such significant
declines
that full protect is required in order to try and
save the species.
It is a criminal offence to disturb in
any way or collect
these species from the wild.
Many other species are also protected. Find out more.
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Join 
