Welcome to the Suffolk Branch of Butterfly Conservation
Butterfly Conservation is a registered charity dedicated to the conservation of butterflies and moths

Join Butterfly Conservation - click here to go to the National Butterfly Conservation website to join.

Volunteers needed - Silver-studded Blue Monitoring at Minsmere and Dunwich

We have decided that for this year, we will count Silver-studded Blue on the Minsmere sites as a group, as we don't currently have anyone to take the routes on by themselves.

We are aiming to count at/around peak time, so, depending on how the season goes, our first choice of date will be Thursday 21st June. We can have 28th June as a back-up if peak is a little later.

We will meet at 10:00am near the reversion field, where there is a lay-by and we can car-share to move on to further sites.
Grid Ref:  TM449689. Please bring a packed lunch as we are unlikely to finish before mid-afternoon.

If you are interested and able to join us, let Helen Saunders know  and if you need a map for the meeting point

An important Branch post will become available when Dom Hill resigns his role as Treasurer at our 2018 AGM in November

We are grateful to Dom for both managing our account and for over-seeing the recent move to central financing by Head Office.

The search is on for someone to fill this position.  Perhaps you are thinking of devoting some of your time to volunteer work.  Here is your opportunity to find out more about this post.

Treasurer’s Role

Book-keeping for BC Branches is done by BC Head Office, so the Treasurer’s role for the Suffolk Branch is not too demanding and no prior financial experience or technical qualifications are required.  
The Treasurer has to liaise with Head Office in order to:- arrange the payment of invoices, maintain a spreadsheet of Branch transactions and reconcile against Head Office information, and present simple accounts for the Branch AGM.

For more information contact Dom Hill
07389194202
01359269137

or Suffolk Branch Chair   Peter Maddison
01473 736607

Raise Money for Suffolk Butterfly Conservation As You Shop

Waitrose run a Community Matters Scheme, to raise money for local charities.

For the month of June, at the Ipswich branch next to John Lewis, one of the organisations will be the Suffolk Branch of Butterfly Conservation.

Every time you shop at this Waitrose, you will be given a token to put in one of 3 charity boxes.

Please choose the Butterfly Conservation box.

At the end of the month, money raised will be given to us to use towards helping butterflies and moths in Suffolk.

Next Local Events -

Friday 15^th June – Monday 18^th June    GREENWINGS EVENT, NORFOLK**
Swallowtail Weekend with Patrick Barkham
Join The Butterfly Isles author and Guardian writer Patrick Barkham across the border for a weekend of Swallowtails and other Norfolk wildlife.  As well as daily excursions in, on (by boat) and around the Broads, Patrick will also be giving an illustrated talks on one of the evenings.  We also anticipate running a moth trap overnight at least once, from Patrick’s nearby garden.  As with all Greenwings Lepidoptera focused holidays 10% of profits are donated to Butterfly Conservation.

Where: Norfolk (click here for more details)
Contact: Greenwings (01473 254658)  
Email: enquiries@greenwings.co.uk

Friday 6th July - The Moths and Butterflies of Landseer Park County Wildlife Site
Evening Moth Trapping at Landseer Park, Ipswich.
Time: 9pm (evening) - packing away by midnight.
Meet: look for the light in the park and find us at the moth traps.
Map ref: TM 17621 42743  
Contact: David Dowding 07736 826183 or Sam Chamberlin 07712 281307

Suffolk moth group field events programme now available to see online - http://suffolkmoths.org.uk/blog/

Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS)

The WCBS is a national scheme which complements the transects of the UK BMS with mini transects walked in squares randomly selected by the BTO computer.  Volunteers from Butterfly Conservation and the BTO need to walk just twice per year in July and August (with an optional spring walk if you wish).  This means that the commitment is not heavy.

The Wider Countryside Butterfly Scheme (WCBS) Report 2017 has been published.  Click here to download a copy in pdf format.

Over the past nine years volunteers have monitored butterflies in a selection of 1 km squares.  In July and August 2017, on two walks along fixed routes, 774 squares were surveyed nationally, 39 squares in Suffolk.  The Report is an interesting read showing not only the results of butterfly species numbers and analysis,  but also a guide to some day-flying moths which recorders are encouraged to include.    If you have not previously been part of the scheme but would like to become involved in 2018 contact Twm Wade at the email address below.

We have 14 squares in need of a volunteer

OS Grid Reference	Town/Parish	Post Code
TL7573	Icklingham	IP28 6PZ
TL8164	Westley	IP33 3RB
TL8381	Thetford (west)	IP24 3ST
TL9248	Lavenham	CO10 9PE
TL9479	Coney Weston	IP31 1HL
TL9577	Coney Weston	IP31 1DL
TM0378	Redgrave	IP22 1SA
TM1233	Brantham	CO11 1PT
TM1944	Ipswich (Hospital and Copleston High School)	IP4 5PD
TM3180	St James, South Elmham and Metfield	IP19 0HT
TM0969	Wickham Skeith	IP23 8LX
TM3568	Peasenhall	IP17 2NQ
TM4663	Leiston	IP16 4UL

Email our WCBS co-ordinator, Twm Wade to volunteer for one of these squares

Download the 2015 report

Download the 2016 Report

BMS - Butterfly Monitoring Scheme
BTO - British Trust for Ornithology

Distribution Maps for Suffolk Butterflies 2013-2017

The Suffolk Butterfly Recorder, Bill Stone, has prepared new distribution maps for 2013 - 2017 for all the butterflies that can be found in Suffolk.  For anyone who has the maps produced 15 years ago* they show significant differences for some species.  For example the Wall is now almost entirely restricted to the coast and the Silver-washed Fritillary was not present in Suffolk.

Click here for the new Distribution Maps

*The Millennium Atlas of Suffolk Butterflies, 2001, by Richard Stewart. Published by Suffolk Naturalists'Society. £5 from SNS [You can order from Ipswich Museum by phone, 01473 433547].



You can also see the UK distibution maps for the most recent five-year survey of the Butterflies for the New Millennium (BNM) recording scheme (2010-2014).  
Click here to download the Atlas of UK Butterflies 2010-2014 in pdf format (11 MB).

40 year slump for UK Butterflies

More than three-quarters of the UK’s butterflies have declined in the last 40 years with some common species suffering significant slumps, a major scientific study has revealed.  A number of widespread species such as the Wall, Essex Skipper and Small Heath now rank amongst the most severely declining butterflies in the UK. 

The findings also reveal that intensive conservation efforts have started to turn around the fortunes of some of the UK’s most endangered butterflies. During the last 10 years the numbers of the threatened Duke of Burgundy have increased by 67% and the Pearl-bordered Fritillary has experienced a 45% rise in abundance.  Dingy Skipper and Silver-studded Blue have shown 21% and 19% increases in occurrence respectively and even the UK’s most endangered butterfly, the High Brown Fritillary, has been relatively stable in the last decade.

But despite breakthroughs with some threatened butterflies the report revealed that other species continue to struggle.  The long-term decline of the Wood White, White Admiral and Marsh Fritillary show few signs of stopping. 

Download in pdf format the full 'State of UK Butterflies 2015' report here

Do we have your email address? It will help us to communicate changes to events (as above) if we have your email address. Please email your name to using your normal email address and email address as the subject.  This can then be added to our membership list.

Follow us on Twitter.  But still send your sightings to

When to See Butterflies. 

The Suffolk Butterflies page lists the butterflies that can be seen in Suffolk, shows when you can expect to see them and the foodplants upon which their caterpillars feed.
We can also help if you would like advice about making your garden more attractive to butterflies

See the News page for dates of First Sightings

Like much of the UK, Suffolk's countryside and wildlife are under increasing pressure.  It's a situation that is unlikely to improve in the forseeable future and there's never been a more urgent need to understand and conserve our butterfly fauna.  The county has a gently undulating landscape of surprising contrasts, defying the stereotype of "flat East Anglia and its arable prairies".  The unspoilt coast, intimate river valleys and, especially, the Sandlings heaths and Brecks ensure that Suffolk retains a more varied butterfly fauna than might be expected.

Some recommended books are listed here

 Butterfly Records.

The Branch is always grateful for butterfly records and a recording form can be downloaded from the recording page of this website.
We would be particularly grateful for records away from the coast and information on the following species:
Dingy Skipper, Green Hairstreak, Purple Hairstreak, White Letter Hairstreak, Silver-studded Blue, Wall Brown, White Admiral, Silver-washed Fritillary, Grayling and Small Heath.

email your sightings to us at

Recent Sightings can be viewed here

Conservation and Recording

Brimstone - about the Brimstone and Buckthorn project
Help us to record Brimstone butterflies in Suffolk

Silver-studded Blue - links to more information
Translocation to Blaxhall Common - 2012 Update
Ecological Survey of Selected Silver-studded Blue Sites in 2009

Silver-Washed Fritillary - link for more information
Silver-washed Fritillary returns to Suffolk

Purple Emperor - link for more information

Ipswich Heaths Project - a new project, aimed at restoring lowland heathland habitat of 300 hectares on 14 sites in Ipswich, has been awarded a Wren Biodiversity Action Fund grant of over £100,000.  More details here