The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland

Over almost forty years, Richard Lewington has built up a reputation as one of Europe’s finest wildlife illustrators. He first became interested in butterflies as a child when he inherited a cabinet of insects from his father. He studied graphic design at the Berkshire College of Art, and since leaving in 1971 has specialised in natural-history illustration. His meticulous paintings of insects and other wildlife are the mainstay of many of the modern classics of field-guide art, including Insects of Britain and Western Europe, Collins Butterfly Guide, Field Guide to Dragonflies of Britain and Europe, Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland, Pocket Guide to Butterflies of Britain and Ireland and Guide to Garden Wildlife. He was, for many years, the principal artist on the multi-volume series, The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. He has also designed and illustrated wildlife stamps for a number of countries, including a set of ten stamps of British butterflies for Royal Mail in 2013. Jeremy Thomas, one of Europe’s most accomplished butterfly experts, is Professor of Ecology and a Fellow of New College at the University of Oxford, and the President of the Royal Entomological Society (2012–14). He previously worked as a research scientist at the Nature Conservancy’s Monks Wood laboratory, at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology’s Furzebrook Research Station, and at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology’s Dorset laboratory. He initially helped devise the methods used to monitor change in the distributions and abundance of butterflies, and for four decades has led research teams across Europe to study the ecology of threatened species, including the interactions between ants and butterflies. He has applied his research results widely to conserve declining European butterflies, including the five species of Large Blue. Thomas’s work has attracted a variety of awards, including leading prizes for advancing the sciences of both Conservation Biology and Ecology, for natural-history writing and for practical conservation.

Introduction
Butterfly names and families

Hesperiidae
Chequered Skipper Carterocephalus palaemon
Small Skipper Thymelicus slyvestris
Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola
Lulworth Skipper Thymelicus acteon
Silver-spotted Skipper Hesperia comma
Large Skipper Ochlodes sylvanus
Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus malvae
Dingy Skipper Erynnis tages

Papilionidae
Swallowtail Papilio machaon

Pieridae
Wood White Leptidea sinapis
Cryptic Wood White Lepitdea juvernica
Pale and Berger's Clouded Yellows Colias hyale and Colias alfacariensis
Clouded Yellow Colias croceus
Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni
Black-veined White Aporia crataegi
Large White Pieris brassicae
Small White Pieris rapae
Green-veined White Pieris napi
Bath White Pontia daplidice
Orange-tip Anthocharis cardamines

Lycaenidae
Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi
Brown Hairstreak Thecia betulae
Purple Hairstreak Favonius quercus
White-letter Hairstreak Satyrium w-album
Black Hairstreak Satyrium pruni
Large Copper Lycaena dispar
Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas
Long-tailed Blue Lampides boeticus
Geranium Bronze Cacyreus marshalli
Bloxworth (Short-tailed) Blue everes argiades
Small Blue Cupido minimum
Chalkhill Blue Polyommatus coridon
Adonis Blue Polyommatus bellargus
Mazarine Blue Celastrina argiolus
Large Blue Maculinea arion

Riodinidae
Duke of Burgandy Hamearis lucina

Nymphalidae
White Admiral Limenitis camilla
Purple Emperor Apatura iris
Camberwell Beauty Nymphalis antiopa
Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta
Painted Lady Vanessa cardui
Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae
Large Tortoiseshell Nymphalis polychloros
Peacock Aglais io
Comma Polygonia c-album
Queen of Spain Fritillary Issoria lathonia
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary Boloria selene
Pearl-bordered Fritillary Boloria euphrosyne
High Brown Fritillary Argynnis adippe
Dark Green Fritillary Argynnis aglaja
Silver-washed Fritillary Argynnis paphia
Marsh Fritillary Euphydrayas aurinia
Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia
Heath Fritillary Melitaea athalia
Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
Wall Lasiommata megera
Mountain Ringlet Erebia epiphron
Scotch Argus Erebia aethiops
Marbled White Melanargia galathea
Grayling Hipparchia semele
Gatekepper Pyronia tithonus
Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina
Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus
Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus
Large Heath Coenonympha tullia
Monarch Danaus plexippus

Further reading
Societies to join
Websites
Names of plants
Acknowledgements