Calling butterfly spotters for painted lady’s grand entrance after 4,500-mile migration
MEDIA CORRESPONDENT THE BBC is calling on viewers to help carry out a nationwide butterfly survey, as part of a major new programme examining the migration to Britain of one of the nation’s most beautiful insects.
The corporation is asking amateur butterfly spotters to use their cameras and smartphones to document the arrival of the painted lady butterfly, which is set to make landfall from Europe in the coming days.
The butterfly makes a 4,500-mile journey to Britain from the Moroccan desert, the longest migration of any insect species in the world.
Entomologists have been baffled as to why the creatures make the vast trip, particularly given that each generation only carries out part of the journey before reproducing and dying.
Pictures and footage captured by viewers will form part of a 90-minute BBC Four programme,
presented by Martha Kearney and Dr James Logan, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in what the broadcaster says will be a major “entomological event”.
The painted lady migrates from Morocco, through Spain, to Britain’s gardens and meadows. Scientists working with the programme have tracked the swarm using satellite imagery. A BBC spokesman said: “They arrive in UK gardens quite soon so people should start looking out for them from now.”
While the painted lady is thought to have increased in abundance in recent decades, three quarters of Britain’s most common butterflies have experienced declines, according to Butterfly Conservation. The charity estimates that one of our most popular species, the gatekeeper, has declined in abundance by nearly half over the last decade, in part because of more intensive farming practices.
The organisation’s 2015 annual report states: “More butterflies are reaching the UK from overseas. Since the 1970s the three common migrant species – clouded yellow, red admiral and painted lady – have all increased dramatically in abundance.”
Cassian Harrison, channel editor of BBC Four, said: “I encourage all butterfly enthusiasts to get out into their garden this summer and join us as we find out more about these remarkable creatures.”