- Date posted: 5th June 2023
‘Extinct’ butterfly spotted in England
It is thought the butterflies have been released and are not a sign of a natural recovery of the species.
The black-veined white butterfly, which has been extinct in the UK since 1925, has been seen flying around countryside on the edge of south-east London.
Naturalists and butterfly-enthusiasts have watched them flying around hawthorn and blackthorn trees, which provide food for the caterpillars of the species.
First listed as a British species in 1667, the black-veined white (Aporia crataegi) was always rare in the UK, although it is common in continental Europe. It is thought the species died out in Britain following a series of cold, wet autumns.
The charity Butterfly Conservation told the BBC that the butterflies seen in the past few days are likely to have been released into the wild, although no details are known about who might have released them or why.
Since it died out in the UK, there have been attempts to reintroduce the species.
During the 1940s, Winston Churchill hired a lepidopterist to release hundreds of black-veined whites in the garden of his country house in Kent. Despite his enthusiasm for the species, which he is believed to have first encountered in India, the attempt was unsuccessful.
However, two studies published in 2018 have given hope that the species could now be successfully reintroduced. Scientists from the University of Southampton found that the warming climate means that suitable conditions for the black-veined white could be relatively easily recreated in the UK.