The State of the UK’s Butterflies 2022 report, released today by wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation, has revealed the alarming news that 80% of butterflies in the UK have declined since the 1970s.
Decreases in butterfly populations on this scale are a huge cause for concern as butterflies are an integral part of the UK ecosystem and their precipitous decline is a clear warning signal of the wider biodiversity crisis.
In Scotland, butterfly species that require specialist habitats have greatly declined. But the figures show increases too, as many countryside-wide species have increased in Scotland. While this increase bucks the trend elsewhere in the UK, it’s a clear indicator of climate change.
- While habitat specialists in Scotland have declined in abundance by 27%, wider countryside species have increased by 26%.
- Half of all Britain’s remaining butterfly species are now listed as at risk of extinction on the British Red List.*
- However, the report also provides evidence that targeted conservation action can turn around the fortunes of threatened butterfly species.
Scientists at Butterfly Conservation are today warning that time is running out for UK’s butterflies as long-term trends show that most butterfly species have declined in either abundance, distribution, or both in the past five decades. The news follows the release of the new Red List of British Butterflies last May, which showed half of all the remaining species in Britain are now classed as threatened or near threatened.
Habitat loss across the UK has led to dramatic declines in those species that require flower-rich grassland, heathland, and woodland clearings to thrive. These specialist species have, on average, decreased by more than a quarter (27% decrease) in abundance and lost over two-thirds (68% decrease) of their distribution since 1976.
Butterfly species that can breed in the farmed countryside and urban areas have fared less badly, but as a group they have still declined by 17% in abundance and 8% in distribution.
However, despite the gloomy picture painted by the long-term trends, the report points to numerous examples proving that targeted conservation action can turn around the fortunes of threatened butterflies at site, landscape, and national levels.
In Scotland this includes conservation action for priority species such as Northern Brown Argus and Pearl-bordered Fritillary. But, while managed sites such as Mabie Forest in Dumfries and Galloway are showing increases in numbers, colonies are disappearing elsewhere in the landscape. This shows that conservation efforts and partnership working towards better land management in Scotland are important to our natural environment now, more than ever.
Alongside this, climate change appears to be a large factor in the increased abundance of some species in Scotland. For example, White-letter Hairstreak and Holly Blue have spread north from England and become established in Scotland, while other species, such as Ringlet, Peacock and Comma, have greatly extended their ranges in the country.
Tom Prescott Butterfly Conservation’s Senior Conservation Officer for Scotland said: “Scotland is the only UK country for which the all-species butterfly indicators show long-term increases in abundance and distribution.
“However, this hides the true picture, which is that those species requiring specialist habitat are in significant decline while those that live in the wider countryside are increasing as a result of climate change allowing them to increase their range.
“Thanks to tens of thousands of people who contribute sightings through projects such as the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme and Big Butterfly Count, we have amazing data to plot the changing fortunes of our butterflies.
“We use this to inform our conservation work and the work we have been doing to increase numbers of Pearl-bordered Fritillary at Mabie Forest Reserve in partnership with Forestry and Land Scotland is evidence that where conservation action has been carefully targeted and sustained in the long-term it has had real impact.”
Julie Williams, CEO of Butterfly Conservation, said: “This report is yet more compelling evidence of nature’s decline in the UK. We are totally dependent on the natural world for food, water and clean air.
“The state of our species and habitats shows that the natural world is in trouble. We need swift and effective action on this. The decline in butterflies we have seen in our own lifetimes is shocking and we can no longer stand by and watch the UK’s biodiversity be destroyed.”
The State of the UK’s Butterflies 2022 has been produced by Butterfly Conservation working together with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and British Trust for Ornithology. The report is based on nearly 23 million butterfly records, almost all of which were contributed by volunteer citizen scientists, that assesses the UK’s 59 species of breeding butterflies.
The full report can be found HERE
*More information on the latest Red List assessment of butterflies can be found here https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/half-of-british-butterfly-species-on-new-red-list
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