Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire

A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly perched on a window sill, overlooking neighbouring houses.

Found an unexpected house guest this winter? 🦋🏠

Five butterfly species spend the winter as adults in the UK: the Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Peacock and Red Admiral.

See our advice for what to do if you find an overwintering butterfly 👉 butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blo...

Beavers 🦫 helping save butterflies 🦋 ❤️
“beaver-created wetlands are home to greater numbers of hoverflies and butterflies than human-created equivalents.” A huge 45% increase in butterfly numbers 😯 🙏 #butterflies #beavers #wetlands @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Great work 👍 It’s amazing how fast you got this sites habitat management done this year ⭐️ Now onto Ryton Wood Meadows reserve! 💪

Alan Carr in a white suit, matched to a green-veined white butterfly

Is it just us or was Alan Carr KILLING IT in last night's #CelebrityTraitors? Like a true butterfly, he transformed to show his true colours!

1/6:
#TheTraitors

Two Brimstone butterflies mating underneath a purple crocus

It's bulb planting time!

Bulbs make dazzling displays in containers or borders, and they’re also a great source of late winter/early spring nectar for butterflies and moths 🦋

Top 5 bulbs to plant:
🌷 Crocus
🌷 Alliums
🌷 Grape hyacinth
🌷 Winter aconite
🌷 Snake's-head Fritillary

📷: Rob Blanken

Imagine showing volunteers raking and mowing the grassland. Photo by Tony Penycate

This SSSI is a mosiac of calcareous grasslands, scrub & trees supporting 28 species of butterflies. Notability the Dark-green fritillary, Green Hairstreak, Grizzled Skipper, Dingy Skipper and Small Heath.

Photo shows the team gathering at the start and checking on the tools, while some volunteers already raking. Photo by Tony Penycate

We had a great turn out of volunteers on this Tuesdays work party at Harbury Spoilbank North! Thanks to Mike pre-mowing a section on Monday the rakers could crack on while the rest started cutting the dips & bumps!
Do click on photo for full image. #butterflies #volunteers

Great photos! Well done Everyone 😀

Butterfly Conservation's Butterflies and Moths to see in November: Red Admiral, Scarce Umber, Comma, Feathered Thorn, Common Plume, Mottled Umber, Small Tortoiseshell, November Moth, Peacock

The days may be getting colder and darker, but there's still a chance to spot beautiful butterflies and moths in your gardens and green spaces 🦋🍂

#SaveButterflies #MothsMatter

Get your free Moon Meadows guide! Moths are a vital part of the ecosystem, but they are threatened by light pollution. Discover how you can create a moon meadow at home and in your local area and help our nighttime pollinators thrive....

Check out the details here: butterfly-conservation.org/moon-meadows...

looking up at a full moon surrounded by trees at night ALT: looking up at a full moon surrounded by trees at night

But don’t forget one of the most important factors - no artificial light! 💡 Your Moon Meadow only needs the light of the moon!

So what to plant in your Moon garden 🤔 Lady’s Bedstraw will bring in the Flame Shoulder, Common Carpet & Hummingbird Hawkmoths. While Fushias will attract Elephants! 🐘 😉

Are you more of a Night Owl? Prefer to do a spot of garden watching in the glow of the Moon 🌙 Then you need to create a Moon Meadow #WildSpace for our night time pollinators! 😀 #moths #teammoth @savebutterflies.bsky.social

What goes bump in the night? Moths!!
Have you got a Moon Meadow already? If not then check out this awesome guide! Don’t forget to register it as a #WildSpace too 👍 #night #moon

YouTube video by Butterfly Conservation Celebrating 50 years of butterfly monitoring

We're thrilled to share this film featuring some of the dedicated volunteers who monitor butterflies for the UKBMS

A huge thank you to them, and everyone who's supported the scheme over the last 50 years.
#UKBMS50

youtu.be/OrF5AgseX1U?...

😂😂

A wheelbarrow with tools at the start of the cutting after work done. Photos by Tony Penycate

Volunteers raking around the pond area. Photos by Tony Penycate

Volunteer raking, Photos by Tony Penycate

Yesterday the Practical work party team was back at the Little Haven. The paths around the ponds were cut & raked, the orchard ride tided & hedge work carried out. Also wildflower seeds sown ready for next years butterflies. 🦋
#butterfly #conservation #HabitatManagement #volunteer

Every little bit you do does matter ❤️

A Feathered Thorn moth with large antennae peaking out from behind a blade of grass

Feathered Gothic showing off its intricately patterned wings while resting on a green leaf

Halloween is for the goths and moths 📣

So we're kicking off our spooky countdown with the aptly-named Feathered Gothic (Tholera decimalis). A common moth, well distributed throughout most of Britain, but very local further north.

📷: Rob Blanken
#MothMonday #TeamMoth

It has only been recorded in Charlecote in Warwickshire, though David notes an individual was caught last Nov at Draycote Water.

Photo by David Brown of an Oak Rustic moth on an autumn leaf. It is a deep brown coloured moth with dark orange spots on each wing. The leaf is a collage of yellow, orange, brown, beige, dark green colours.

Sharing David Brown’s stunning photo of a Oak Rustic from his garden trap this week. He noted it had strongly marked orange stigmata. What a fabulous photo 😀 #moths #teammoth #warwickshire

Stay tuned to see where we are next!

Summer photo of the site, showing wildflowers & grasses, blue skies & fluffy clouds.

Autumnal photo of the site being cut & raked by our volunteers. 📷 Tara Higgs

Work at Ettington Cutting site has now been completed for this year ✅ Many thanks to our hard working volunteers. Summer & Autumn photos of this site below.

That’s great to hear 🙂 We have seeded more wildflowers along this site to encourage more butterflies to lay eggs 🤞

Fantastic work everyone 👍❤️

It is interesting to see what the weather is doing to our moth populations! #moths
Also great photo!

A warm mizzly night produced 35/13 in trap - Green-brindled Cresent was new for me. Also my 2nd+3rd Merveille du Jour whilst 5 November Moth agg were NFY. Also Yellow-line Quaker + Blairs Shoulder-knot of note
B74 VC38 SK10
@ruthnewby.bsky.social @bcwarwickshire.bsky.social @ecorecord.bsky.social

Oh wait we just got to the cutest weevil section ☺️

📷 Tara Higgs

Small Skipper & Essex Skipper both prefer open places with long grass, like unimproved rough grassland, downs, roadside verges, field edges & woodland glades. So leaving some areas of long grass in your garden would be supporting this species. 🦋

Latest report shows more bad news for butterflies 🦋 Several species on the ‘at risk’ list are found in Warwickshire - Small Skipper & Essex Skipper. The main threat is habitat loss so anything you can do in your own space can make a difference 🙏