A butterfly species is on the brink of extinction in Northern Ireland according to a conservation group.
In its State of the UK’s Butterflies 2022 report, the Butterfly Conservation group found the wall butterfly, once found across NI, is now only occasionally spotted on the Co Down coast.
The wildlife charity says there have been “major declines” in our butterflies since the 1970.
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Not all butterfly species in NI are monitored, but among those that are, they as there’s been a 17% drop in abundance and 10% decrease in distribution.
Butterfly Conservation say NI’s Small Heath is also in trouble after losing 40% of its distribution since 1995.
They believe more data is needed to assess trends among the rarest and most threatened NI species.
In the UK as a whole, 80% of butterflies in the UK have decreased since the 1970s sparking huge concerns since they are integral part of our ecosystems and warn of a wider biodiversity decline.
Head of Science for Butterfly Conservation and lead author of the report, Dr Richard Fox, said: “This comprehensive stock-take of the state of the UK’s butterflies reveals the huge scale of the challenge to halt and reverse the decline in butterfly populations in the years ahead.
“Thanks to tens of thousands of people who contribute sightings through projects such as the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme and Big Butterfly Count, we have amazing data to plot the changing fortunes of our butterflies.
“We know that where conservation action is carefully targeted and sustained in the long-term it has real impact.
“What is needed now is a step-change in government support to bring butterflies and other wildlife back to the UK’s nature reserves, farmland, forests and built-up areas.
“The scale of the decline in the UK’s butterflies has reached a point where much more resource is urgently required.”
Julie Williams, CEO of Butterfly Conservation, added: “We are totally dependent on the natural world for food, water and clean air. The state of our species and habitats shows that the natural world is in trouble.
“We need swift and effective action on this. The decline in butterflies we have seen in our own lifetimes is shocking and we can no longer stand by and watch the UK’s biodiversity be destroyed.”
The State of the UK’s Butterflies 2022 was produced by Butterfly Conservation working with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and British Trust for Ornithology.
It is based on nearly 23 million butterfly records, almost all of which were contributed by volunteer citizen scientists, that assesses the UK’s 59 species of breeding butterflies.
The full report can be found HERE
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