Update on our featured tour of the week, Spring Butterflies of Central & Northern Spain - as of this afternoon, it's now got just 4 places left available. Running 16-23 April, generating a donation to @europebutterfly.bsky.social, catch it while you can! mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Running 30 April - 7 May 2026, just 1 place remains available to join this perennially popular tour. And, of course, like ALL our butterfly tours, it generates a donation to support the great conservation work of @europebutterfly.bsky.social. (2/2) mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Good morning and welcome to a new week! Our featured Spanish tour of the week is Spring Butterflies of Andalusia - a chance to enjoy a mouth-watering array of special butterflies rare or absent elsewhere in Europe. (1/2) mariposanature.com/tours/butter... @europebutterfly.bsky.social

Extraordinary discovery, and what a beautiful butterfly!

We have added two new pages to our website: habitat management principles for butterflies (and other pollinators) and causes of decline. Check them out here www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

🎃 Trick or treat?! It's Halloween, and we have a HUGE announcement to make later on today! 🎃 There's a clue in the images here... #butterflies @europebutterfly.bsky.social

Miguel's working life has been devoted to butterflies and, among other accomplishments, he's been a pivotal part of @europebutterfly.bsky.social (BCE), including a tenure as its Chair. As regular Mariposa guests will know, we donate to BCE after every one of our butterfly tours. (2/2)

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?...

Gelechioidea, that superdiverse superfamily of Lepidoptera that has been a super mess taxonomically, finally gets some structure at the family level with phylogenomics! Read all about it in our article led by PhD student @etkayapar.bsky.social ! resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Fritillaries of many kinds abound on our featured tour this week, Spring Butterflies of the French Pyrenees. Here are a couple (Spotted & False Heath) kindly shared by one of our guests this year. Our guests have plenty of time and space with which to pursue the perfect portrait! #naturephotography

📢New paper: Night-flying insects over UK in decline, weather radar study reveals @universityofleeds.bsky.social with Rothamsted Insect Survey🦋🐝🪰🦟 Full story 👇 www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/trillio...

The opportunities for photography, or simply enjoying the burgeoning butterfly show, are endless here in a beautiful region of France that's bursting into life in late May. And naturally, this tour generates a donation to support the great work of @europebutterfly.bsky.social. (2/2)

On the subject of endemic island butterflies, guests on our Fabulous Fuerteventura tour next February can expect to enjoy close views of the island's very own charming endemic, Fuerteventura Green-striped White. mariposanature.com/tours/wildli...

Hugely enjoyable AGM yesterday of the European Butterflies Group in Birmingham - great to catch up with so many friends, swap butterfly observations, and lay plans for the future. A presentation on Atlantic island endemism by Martin Davies was particularly thought-provoking and inspiring...

🦋'Butterfly Photography'🦋 Butterflies are our speciality. Our co-founder @matthewberry.bsky.social is an experienced butterfly photographer & just took this Swallowtail shot in Greece. @europebutterfly.bsky.social

This might also explain the slow and steady decline of common insects. I am sure they cannot avoid these pesticides either and low levels could disrupt behaviour or reduce survival rates www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Thanks for sharing these important findings from one of the biggest ever marking studies done on butterflies. We knew MF could colonise up to 10km in good years, but good to have this data on how sedentary they normally are. Large Blues not such a surprise as they wander widely in the Alps and UK.

To keep nature alive, we remind ministers to: 🌿 Allocate at least 10% of the EU budget to biodiversity 🌿 Dedicate at least 15% budget for nature restoration in the National & Regional Partnership Plans 🌿 Keep the LIFE Programme alive & well funded We can’t protect what we love for free.

‼️ Nature needs funding Today, EU Environment Ministers meet to decide the long-term EU budget. They must stand up for biodiversity! Europe’s nature is in crisis. The funding gap for protection is nearly €39 billion/year and growing steadily. #RestoreNature 📸 Yves Adams

Really nice paper from @tiff-ki.bsky.social & co. shows no overall decline in butterfly species richness in Sulawesi over 166 yrs, but changing communities with endemics & forest specialists declining. Short-term trends unreliable measures of long term. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... 🌏

That’s so sad to hear, all these species must be finely tuned to their harsh environment without much slack

Probably the latter, many places look the same as they did 30-35 yrs ago but butterfly & moth populations drop out.

The decline of tundra butterflies & moths is unfortunately much faster than the advance of tree line. The sharp decline of many such species is very clear now in more southern fell ranges and lower latitudes in N Finland, even though these areas are still above the tree limit.

The advance of the tree line with the climate crisis is truly frightening. A rate of 1km a decade in Scandinavia which is swallowing up open tundra habitats and their flora and fauna. See onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Very cool paper from @rogervilalab.bsky.social on the Canary islands Hipparchia butterflies just came out! Each island has its own species, seems like no gene flow between the islands! academic.oup.com/isd/article/...

In the new European butterfly Red List, 8 sp are threatened in Scandinavian tundra where the climate crisis is causing warmer + drier conditions that allows scrub to spread on sensitive bog and open habitats. eg Agriades aquilo; Boloria freija; Euphydryas iduna. www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

In the new Butterfly Red List, sp that live solely on mountain tops are especially threatened as they need to move uphill as their habitats get warmer, but are running out of space. In mountains of S Spain, 3 endemic sp are now Endangered : Agriades zullichi; Polyommatus golgus; P. violetae.

The new European Butterfly Red List found that the biggest threats to butterflies continue to be habitat loss and degradation but climate warming is having a devastating effect on sp. in the far north and far south of Europe. 52% (34) of all Red List sp. are now threatened by climate warming.

The new European Butterfly Red List shows that butterflies are under increasing threat across Europe, with the number of species at risk of extinction up from 37 to 65 (73%) in the last 10 years. See our Press Release www.bc-europe.eu/documents/68...

The no. sp. threatened with extinction has increased from 37 to 65 (73%) in the last 10 ago. Also, we report the first European butterfly extinction. The Madeiran Large White, Pieris wollastoni, was last seen in 1968. Read the full report here www.bc-europe.eu/documents/68...

Huge thanks to the authors @chrisvanswaay.bsky.social @martinswarren.bsky.social , @samellisbutterfly.bsky.social , @iucnbutterflysg.bsky.social and all the many experts who helped.

The new European Butterfly Red List is published today, with worrying findings. Over 1/4 (28%) of Europe’s 442 species are threatened with extinction or are close to being so. The situation is far worse for our 148 endemic species, 40% are now threatened or nearly so www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

Press briefing today at IUCN Global Biodiversity Conference, giving results of the new Red List of European butterflies. It’s not good. Full details will be published tomorrow. Watch this space @europebutterfly.bsky.social

Tagfalter-Index halt auch der einzige, der dezidiert den ökologischen Zustand von Grünland abbilden könnte. @herbertnickel.bsky.social

Der Grünlandschmetterlings-Index muss verpflichtend in die Nationale Wiederherstellungsverordnung aufgenommen werden. Warum? Lest unseren Standpunkt dazu: www.ufz.de/export/data/...

We need more of this, ecological management of road verges. And it could save local authorities money!

Places remain available to join us there in 2026. If booked before 1 Dec 2025, they qualify for our Early Bird discount, automatically taking £150 off the list price of the tour. And the tour generates a donation to support @europebutterfly.bsky.social. 🦋(2/2) www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

The new European Butterfly Red List will be published this Friday at the IUCN Global Biodiversity Conference. Watch this space for the shocking findings

Your guides to a feast of fritillaries and a bonanza of blues will be our popular, knowledgeable, and friendly team of Paul Selby & Michele Viganò. Importantly, like ALL of our butterfly tours, this one generates a donation to support the great work of @europebutterfly.bsky.social. (2/2)

Nur noch heute läuft die Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung zur EU-Verordnung zur Wiederherstellung der Natur! Der Index der Grünlandschmetterlinge muss als Indikator ausgewählt werden! @kuehneli.bsky.social @faltermonitoring.bsky.social Beteiligen ▶️ beteiligung.bundesumweltministerium.de/de/wiederher...

It would be very disappointing if the German government do not adopt the Grassland Butterfly Indicator just because it is going down. They should be taking up the challenge of reversing the decline of pollinators not ignoring this crucial issue to humanity

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗺𝗻𝗶𝗕𝗨𝗦! 🚌 We've been driving around Brussels in an actual omniBUS because the European Commission has been driving a giant Omnibus of proposals themselves. When it comes to nature, simplification doesn’t mean easier rules. It means weaker rules. #HandsOffNature

Check out our new website, packed with new features, including updated project and EU policy pages + butterfly species pages with all known hostplants courtesy of Harry Clarke and downloadable country lists. Big thanks to Peter Eeles @ukbutterflies.bsky.social for all his help www.bc-europe.eu

With 2 weeks until the UKBMS 50th Anniversary conference we're sharing details of the talks and speakers. We're pleased to welcome Cristina Gonzalez Sevilleja from the European Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. Book your free place here ⬇️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-butterf...

Part 1 - My 2nd night of trapping on the night of 8th September, 2025 was in Sierra de Gredos at El Pagano, Candelida, Avila Province, Castilla y Leon, Spain, with some lovely habitats & lovely people! Attached are some photo highlights! #teammoth #spanishmoths www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...

An unforgettable day with my @mariposanature.bsky.social group. I found Desert Babul Blue on the European mainland! There are a mere handful of past claims of it - this is an African species that's an ultra-rarity in Europe. I'm in a state of some shock. #butterflies @europebutterfly.bsky.social

The idiom "like a moth to the flame" dates to at least the 12th century, to Persian love poem "Layla and Majnun". Shakespeare references it in "Merchant of Venice." But here's the thing. Moths DON'T fly to flames. And we're just now understanding that. Let's talk about dorsal light response.

Brilliant analysis from our German partner. The Grassland Butterfly Index GBI is one of the ways that Member States can assess to health of agro-ecosystems under the new EU Nature Restoration Regulation. We hope that Germany adopts this now they have such good data.