Welcome to the Lincolnshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation

The Lincolnshire Branch was formed in 1984 and has grown steadily to well over 200 Members. Lincolnshire is the 2nd largest county, extending from the Humber to the Wash, but has a relatively low population density. Large areas are now devoted to arable farming with only a comparatively small percentage left of woodland and meadow. We have 'lost' a greater number of butterfly, and probably moth, species than almost any other area. Nevertheless, Lincolnshire still has a suprisingly large and diverse range of butterflies and moths, although several are just hanging on in isolated colonies and habitat. The central Lincolnshire woodlands harbour the White Admiral and Brown Hairstreak butterflies at the far Northerly limit of their range; while the desolate Crowle Waste in the extreme North West corner has the Large Heath butterfly at its most South Easterly limit. The East coast has the only national colony of the Marsh moth. We have a relatively high proportion of active members with all levels of interest and knowledge. We try to accommodate this by maintaining several important butterfly reserves, a butterfly garden, and also working on other valuable habitat...notably helping the Brown hairstreak butterfly in the Bardney Limewoods, where we also have our HQ and usual Meeting venue courtesy of the Forestry Commission. We organise Summer Field Trips both within the County and further afield to see specific rarer species, Indoor Meetings on butterfly and moth related topics, attend other Conservation events to promote the Branch, and, most importantly, run a comprehensive Butterfly Recording Scheme including surveys and transects etc. which has built up a picture of their distribution and status. We are now undertaking the same process for our Moths. To keep Members informed we produce regular Newsletters, an annual Recording Report, and have recently started this website, which we plan to develop over time. So if you are interested in joining us please visit the BC Membership section on the National website via the External Link, or contact our Branch Membership Secretary.