Butterflies, Habitat Destruction & Conservation

Now for some good news.

The BBC reports the large blue butterfly, extinct in the UK since 1979, is making a dramatic comeback after the species was reintroduced in 1983 by conservationists using butterlies taken from a population native to the island of Oland in Sweden.

Like most wildlife these days, the primary threat to survival is habitat destruction.

Butterflies like the old farming ways - light grazing and no fertilizer.

The fear is that agriculture will intensify across Europe and we'll see the same problem we've suffered in other countries."

Intensive farming over the last two centuries in the UK destroyed much of the large blue's favoured habitat.--Dr Martin Warren, chief executive of Butterfly Conservation,