The large tortoiseshell – an elusive and enigmatic butterfly that became extinct in Britain in the last century – is a UK resident species once again, with a flurry of early spring sightings. Britain’s list of native butterflies has increased to 60 with the return of the insect after individuals emerged from hibernation in woodlands in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Cornwall and the Isle of Wight. The sightings have led Butterfly Conservation to declare the large tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychloros) a resident species in the UK – as opposed to a migratory one – for the first time in the charity’s
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