Rare butterfly to flutter back?

WARMER weather means Britain could once again be home to a butterfly which died out in the 1920s, experts claim.

The black-veined white butterfly, pictured, was once common in southern England, but numbers collapsed amid changes to land use and cold autumns. However the species survived in other countries – and now scientists believe it could be reintroduced here.

The Butterfly Conservation symposium in Southampton heard that recent studies in northern France, which has a similar climate to southern England, found it would be easy to recreate the habitat the insects need. The charity’s Professor Tom Brereton added that as well as fields rich in wildflowers, the butterflies – which were a favourite of Sir Winston Churchill – also require temperatures to reach 19C (66F) in May and June for adults to be active.