Black-veined whites, thought to have died out in 1920s, have seemingly returned due to warmer climate
When they last roamed England in 1925, they counted Winston Churchill as a fan. Now, black-veined whites – an extremely rare species of British butterfly – have been spotted fluttering once again.
Small numbers of the black and white insects have been spotted in fields and hedgerows in south-east London, nearly a century after the species was thought to have become extinct in the UK. Naturalists are wondering whether the recent spate of warm weather may account for their reappearance. First classified as a British species during King Charles II’s reign, the butterflies are believed to have died out in the UK after a series of wet and chilly autumns in the 1920s – although they continued to thrive in warmer climates in Europe and north Africa.
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