Butterfly Conservation- Glasgow & South West Scotland Branch

17/06/2026

🏆 The Scottish Animal World Cup continues with the first tie of the Round of 16!

The reigning champion, the otter, takes on the small tortoiseshell butterfly. You decide who goes through to the next round, so get your votes in now!

‘Like’ for the otter, ‘love’ for the small tortoiseshell butterfly.

The otter is perfectly adapted for life in and around the water, with webbed toes, a powerful tail and a thick waterproof coat to help it thrive along our coastlines, rivers and lochs. Its poo smells of jasmine tea (we’ll take their word for it ...), and it can be spotted at places in our care including Burg, Inverewe Garden & Estate NTS, Preston Mill & Phantassie Doocot NTS and Unst & Yell.

The small tortoiseshell butterfly offers a very different kind of challenge. With its bright orange wings edged with blue markings, it's a familiar sight in gardens and grasslands, and often one of the first butterflies to emerge in spring. Its caterpillars feed on nettles, while adults enjoy nectar from a wide range of flowers. You might spot them at places in our care including Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve NTS, Greenbank Garden NTS and Inveresk Lodge Garden NTS.

This year’s competition is helping us shine a light on our Plan for Nature - our long-term commitment to protect and restore nature across the places in our care. From wetlands and woodlands to coasts, rivers and open landscapes, healthy habitats are vital if species like these are to thrive in the future.

So, who gets your vote? Voting for this match closes tomorrow.

15/06/2026

13/06/2026

12/06/2026

Who won Britain's Favourite Butterfly where you live? 📍🦋

The flashy Peacock may have taken the UK by storm, but it wasn't a unanimous victory.

The Orange-tip, which came in second overall, clung on to its stronghold in the north of England and Scotland. But the real surprise was the Comma, which came in third in Scotland. This species is a relative newcomer to the country, having expanded its range northwards in recent years.

The popular Holly Blue is another species that has made its way further north, coming in close second behind the Peacock in Northern Ireland.

In Norfolk, the rare and beautiful Swallowtail reigned supreme, while a sudden influx of Painted Ladies won the hearts of the people of Pembrokeshire.

Did your favourite butterfly make it onto the map?

12/06/2026

Whilst we love to see your photos here if you want to enter you need to do so on the original Butterfly Conservation thread.

Calling all photographers! 📢

To celebrate Britain's Favourite Butterfly, we want to see your best photos of the spectacular Peacock butterfly. 📸🦋

Whether you're a professional, beginner, or managed to capture a great one-off shot, your photo could be chosen to take pride of place on our page for the rest of the month.

To enter, post your photo as a reply to this post 👇

Photos should be in landscape format. We ask that any entries are your own work and that the welfare of any wildlife is the top priority when taking photographs.

📷: Peacock - Sue Earnshaw

11/06/2026

Because of the forecast wind and rain tomorrow, we have reluctantly decided to postpone tomorrow night's event until July (date to be confirmed).

We are sorry for any inconvenience; if you had booked via EventBrite you will receive a separate cancellation advice from there.

One of the highlights of the calendar is the annual Moth Night at the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. Volunteers from Butterfly Conservation will be there to show you some of the marvelous moths that have been trapped using a light trap in the gardens.Meet outside the large glasshouse called the Kibble Pal...

11/06/2026

Ban butterfly-killing pesticides for good ❌

Despite repeated promises to ban them, the UK Government has quietly granted yet another 'emergency' license to spray butterfly-killing pesticides across our fields this summer.

Butterflies are in a state of emergency and cannot wait any longer.

We're calling on ministers to do what they promised - set a deadline for an absolute ban on neonicotinoid pesticides. No 'emergency' authorisations. No exemptions.

Add your name to our open letter 👇
https://campaigns.butterfly-conservation.org/ban-pesticides

10/06/2026

09/06/2026

It’s the final week of Moth Project UK!.. a national citizen science project investigating the response of nocturnal pollinators to light spill in our gardens.
Thank you so much to everyone who has already taken part. For those who haven’t, if you have an evening free one night this week, I’d be so grateful if you’d take the time to do this experiment at home. It’s ideal to do during the ad breaks of your tv show, or to get up and stretch your legs while you read a book.

By taking part, you can enter into a prize draw and win £50 in a voucher of your choice or artwork commemorating the project, and you'll be helping important research into threats to our nocturnal pollinators. Find the instructions linked here ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GGYkSk4-s1nRf-uvFMfYoVAaCeq8FkKw/view?usp=drive_link ) and the form to submit your results in our bio. The experiment ends next Monday!