The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland

by Asher, Jim; Warren, Martin; Fox, Richard; Harding, Paul; Jeffcoate, Gail; Jeffcoate, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780198505655
• ISBN10: 0198505655
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-04-05
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This full-colour, superbly illustrated atlas presents the findings ofButterflies for the New Millenium, the most comprehensive survey of butterfliesever undertaken in Britain and Ireland. After five years of recording bythousands of volunteers, it provides an up-to-date assessment of ourbutterflies, the habitats they live in, the threats they face, and the majorchanges that have occurred since publication of the previous such atlas in 1984.The body of the book is taken up with species by species accounts, eachaccompanied by a full-page distribution map and a colour photograph of thebutterfly concerned. A wider context is provided by considering long-term trendsin distribution, derived from 200 years of recording and recent changeselsewhere in Europe. In addition, the book summarises the wealth of newinformation about butterfly ecology, incorporating findings from the ButterflyMonitoring Scheme, describes and illustrates the habitats favoured by particularcommunities of butterflies, and presents a vision of how these popular insectsmight be conserved in the future. As such, it will be invaluable to a widerange of readers, from amateur naturalists to professional conservationists andpolicy makers.

Table of Contents

Foreword	viii
Preface	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
Background	1	(10)
Butterflies for the New Millennium	1	(1)
The importance of butterflies in Britain and Ireland	1	(2)
Butterfly recording in Britain and Ireland	3	(4)
Why the Butterflies for the New Millennium project was initiated	7	(3)
About the atlas	10	(1)
Butterfly habitats	11	(19)
Geology, soils, and climate	11	(1)
Habitats and management	12	(7)
Major habitats and key features	19	(11)
Recording and data collection	30	(10)
Principles and standards for butterfly recording	30	(2)
Organizing the survey---Butterfly Net	32	(1)
BNM recording media	33	(1)
Improving coverage	34	(2)
Data collation	36	(1)
Data verification and validation	36	(1)
Bias and constraints	37	(1)
Collation of pre-1995 data	38	(1)
The Butterfly Monitoring Scheme	38	(2)
Interpreting the data	40	(10)
Mapping the data	40	(3)
Recording effort	43	(1)
Species richness	44	(1)
Interpretation of Butterfly Monitoring Scheme data	45	(2)
The timing of butterfly life cycle stages	47	(1)
Comparison with historic data sets	48	(2)
Species accounts	50	(274)
Guide to content and layout	50	(2)
Resident and regular migrant species
Hesperiidae: the skippers	52	(32)
Papilionidae: the swallowtails	84	(4)
Pieridae: the whites	88	(28)
Lycaenidae: the haristreaks, coppers, and blues	116	(68)
Nymphalidae: the nymphalids and fritillaries	184	(60)
Nymphalidae: the browns	244	(44)
Rare migrant and extinct species	288	(36)
The pattern and cause of change	324	(22)
Habitat specialists and wider countryside species	324	(1)
Distribution change since the 1970--82 survey	325	(7)
Changes in distributions since the nineteenth century	332	(1)
Changes in local distribution and abundance	333	(3)
Causes of decline	336	(7)
Causes of range expansion	343	(3)
Conserving butterflies in the new millennium	346	(55)
Butterflies in crisis	346	(1)
Developing a strategic approach to conservation	347	(3)
Threats to butterflies of conservation concern	350	(5)
Conserving butterflies in the wider countryside	355	(7)
Recommendations for future action	362	(3)
Conclusions	365	(1)
Appendices
1 Vernacular and scientific names of butterfly species	366	(2)
2 Vernacular and scientific names of plants and other organisms	368	(5)
3 Local butterfly atlases	373	(4)
4 Butterflies for the New Millennium Instructions for recorders	377	(3)
5 Standard recording forms	380	(5)
6 UK monthly climate summaries (1995--9)	385	(2)
7 Useful contact addresses	387	(3)
8 Butterfly phenograms	390	(9)
9 Vice-counties of Britain and Ireland	399	(2)
References	401	(20)
Glossary and abbreviations	421	(4)
Index	425	(7)
Photo and artwork credits	432