List of butterflies of Great Britain

This is a list of butterflies of Great Britain, including extinct, naturalised species and those of dubious origin. The list comprises butterfly species listed in The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Emmet et al.[1] and Britain's Butterflies by Tomlinson and Still.[2]

A study by NERC in 2004 found there has been a species decline of 71% of butterfly species between 1983 and 2003.[3] The 2007 UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) listed 22 butterfly species.[4] The 2011 Red List of British butterflies lists 4 species as "regionally extinct" (RE), 2 as "critically endangered", 8 as "endangered (E), 9 as "vulnerable" (V), 11 as "near threatened" (NT) and 28 as "least concern" (LC) in a UK context.[5] In the list below, the categories are as taken from the 2022 Red List (RE 4, E 8, V 16, NT 5, LC 29).[6] Range expansions according to the 2010 Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland.[7]

Butterfly Conservation lists 29 of Great Britain's 58 breeding butterfly species as "High UK threat priority", with 9 of those with conservation priority status "Action urgent across UK range".[8]

  1. ^ Emmet, A.M., J. Heath et al. (Ed.), 1990. The Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland Vol. 7 Part 1 (Hesperiidae to Nymphalidae). Harley Books, Colchester, UK. 370p.
  2. ^ Tomlinson, D. and R. Still, 2002. Britain's Butterflies. WildGuides, Old Basing, UK. 192p.
  3. ^ NERC, 2004.
  4. ^ Butterfly Conservation, 2007. Priority butterfly species listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan 2007. Butterfly Conservation, Wareham, UK. 1p.
  5. ^ Fox, Richard; Warren, Martin S.; Brereton, Tom M.; Roy, David B.; Robinson, Anna (2011). "A new Red List of British butterflies". Insect Conservation and Diversity. 4 (3): 159–172. doi:10.1111/j.1752-4598.2010.00117.x. S2CID 86056452.
  6. ^ Fox, Richard; Dennis, Emily B.; Brown, Andrew F.; Curson, Jon (2022). "A new Red List of British butterflies". Insect Conservation and Diversity. doi:10.1111/icad.12582. S2CID 249088681.
  7. ^ Fox, R. and J. Asher, 2010. 2010 Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland. Butterfly Conservation, East Lulworth, UK. 68p.
  8. ^ "BC UK Conservation Strategy Appendix 3: Conservation status of threatened UK butterflies" (PDF). Butterfly Conservation. 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2019.