Declared extinct in Britain in 1979 before being reintroduced from European populations nearly 40 years ago, the large blue butterfly has recently experienced the most substantial reintroduction into the wild.
After five years of preparing the landscape for the species, 1,100 larvae of the large blue butterfly were released in Rodborough Common in Gloucestershire in 2019. One year later, an estimated 750 butterflies will have successfully emerged at the site.
Globally endangered, large blue butterflies’ life cycle involves the larvae tricking a particular species of red ant into carrying them into their nest. There, the caterpillars feed on ant grubs before emerging the next year as dusky blue butterflies with distinctive black spots on their wings.
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