Butterfly Conservation is a membership organisation and has people with all sorts of interests and levels of knowledge - those who like looking at butterflies and moths in their garden, those who are fascinated by their life cycle, some who are true experts and want to pass on their knowledge to others and people who feel passionately about wildlife conservation.
The East Midlands Branch welcomes new members with any or all of the above interests. If you would like to find out more about joining Butterfly Conservation please contact our Membership Secretary.
Published in February 2024 as a free, digital-only publication of 106 pages, and written and researched by Nottinghamshire Recorder Steve Mathers. Available HERE. See a presentation by Steve given to the 2024 BAG Intriguing Invertebrates Seminar above.
The East Midlands Branch will be having their usual stand in Swallow Marquee at the Bird Fair. This year we will be supported by Sophie Hall from Head Office who will be promoting the Big Butterfly Count. The Leicestershire Butterfly Recorder, Richard Jeffery, will be there Friday and Saturday along with other committee members. We will also have Ian Patterson, chair of the Lincolnshire Branch for all 3 days. As well as our popular plant sales we will have a lovely selection of butterfly related items for sale. There will be moths caught over each night and lots of new information from BC. Please come along and support the Branch or stop for a sit down and chat, we love to welcome members and visitors to the stand.
Butterfly Conservation, in a joint venture with South Derbyshire District Council were both awarded the Green Apple Silver Award for the Environment for their Sallow planting project to help encourage the spread of Purple Emperor into south Derbyshire and beyond.
Recently, Ken Orpe, butterfly recorder for Derbyshire and the main instigator of the project, was honoured to receive the award on behalf of both organisations, and he is pictured above with the award (and a green apple, of course!)
In a spring and summer awash with sunshine and butterflies, the weather was disappointing in the early part of the day but later it picked up and 18 butterfly species were sighted including Marbled White - a new species for the reserve!.
Over 200 visitors attended the event courtesy of Longcliffe Quarries and with help from Emily Howes of DWT who did a sterling job with the pond dipping.
Also in attendance was Ian Middlebrook, Programme Leader at UKBMS, who had travelled up with his wife from Weymouth and who was able to meet with some of the East Midlands transecteers.
A colony of these rare clearwing moths has recently been discovered on site at the British Geological Survey headquarters in Keyworth, Notts.
The Big Butterfly Count begins on Friday 18th July 2025 and will run until Sunday 10th August.
A talk delivered to the Yorkshire branch on 17th January 2022,