Moving Butterflies

I've commented a few times on the decline of butterflies in the UK.

Now a study by researchers from Durham University, the Universities of Leeds and York, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and Butterfly Conservation has shown that human intervention may be able to have a beneficial affect.

The researchers caught Marbled White and Small Skipper butterflies in North Yorkshire and transported them to areas in County Durham and Northumberland, which is well beyond their normal range.

Eight years later research published in Conservation Letters shows that the butterflies are thriving.

Professor Brian Huntley from Durham University said

The success of the assisted colonisation demonstrates for the first time that moving species to areas identified as newly climatically-suitable can play a role in wildlife conservation.