Butterfly Conservation Kent & SE London Branch

30/07/2026

🦋 A quick reminder that the Big Butterfly Count is still underway!

If you haven't taken part yet, there's still time. Spend just 15 minutes counting butterflies in your garden, local park or favourite countryside spot – every record helps.

For more information, or to take part, visit: https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/

Thank you to everyone who's already submitted a count, and happy spotting!

Be part of this nationwide survey and help take the pulse of nature. Butterfly declines reveal the poor health of the environment. We need your sightings.

30/07/2026

🦋 Could the Grayling still survive in Kent? We need your help to find out.

The Grayling (Hipparchia semele) was once a characteristic butterfly of Kent's chalk coast, but it could now well be extinct or extremely vulnerable, in the county. However, a handful of intriguing reports over recent years suggest it may still hang on somewhere along the chalk downland between Lympne and Dover.

With adults on the wing now, this is the perfect time to keep an eye out if you're visiting the coast.

Graylings are one of our largest brown butterflies and masters of camouflage. They favour warm, open, chalky slopes with patches of bare ground, often settling on stones or exposed soil with their wings closed, where they blend in remarkably well. When disturbed, they fly with a distinctive gliding flight before disappearing almost instantly when they land again.

If you're exploring the Kent coast over the coming weeks, please take a few extra moments to look carefully at sunny, sparsely vegetated chalk grassland and cliff-top slopes. Even a single confirmed record would be hugely significant.

If you think you've found a Grayling, please photograph it if possible and submit your record via iRecord, or get in touch with us directly so we can help verify the sighting.

Happy butterfly hunting!

27/06/2026

Just to confirm that the planned field trip to Hearts Delight Farm tomorrow (28th June) has been cancelled.

15/05/2026

In some areas, if you have a UV torch to hand, it is currently possible to find 3 different Hairstreak species at once!

The White-letter, Purple and Brown Hairstreaks all fluoresce under UV light, and we're currently in a window where all three species can be visible.

This won't last long however, as White-letter Hairstreaks start to pupate, they will disappear, followed by the Purple (which only glows under torches using the 365nm wavelength). Brown Hairstreaks have some growing to do yet, and should be visible for another few weeks.

Why not try searching in your garden or local park? And if you do find anything, including some of our amazing moths which also glow under UV, please do log them on iRecord.

Thanks to for the images from his recent hunting.

23/04/2026

White-letter Hairstreak hunting- UV surveys 🔦🐛

As with many other species, the caterpillars of the White-letter Hairstreak will glow under UV light, and now is a good time to start looking for them in known and new places.

These were photographed on Tunbridge Wells Common last night. Any stand of elms is worth checking. Whether they are typical scrubby hedgerows, or large mature survivors 🌱🌳.

You can find more guidance on UV surveys here: UV Surveys | Butterfly Conservation https://share.google/6008oeTCYWxVahicC

And make sure you record any sightings via iRecord, or directly via any of our channels.🦋

08/02/2026

Butterfly Conservation (Kent and SE London) Members' Day, Sat March 7th 2026

 

 

🦋🌞Butterfly Conservation (Kent and SE London) will hold a Members' Day on Sat March 7th 2026 at Lenham Community Centre. The programme is due to start at 10 am and will finish around 3.00 pm. Do join us to meet like-minded conservationists, reflect on recent progress, plan future activities and generally chat about butterflies, moths and their habitats in our branch area.

 

⭐The programme will include presentations from a variety of speakers, for example covering recent conservation successes, focusing on topical species and opportunities for the year ahead. By your request, we will also include a selection of workshops, aimed to help us all hone our skills for the coming season; for example on the use of apps, UV torches and reading feeding signs. But most importantly, ample time is built-in for us to catch-up, meet and mingle with friends old, new and future - for which ample lunch and refreshments are provided.

We very much hope that spring will be thoroughly in the air by early March, and that the day represents an ideal lead-in to the 2026 season. For further details, to see the full agenda as we finalise it and to reserve your place, please visit the day's Eventbrite page.

 

📸Photo Competition: We'd love to be able to share and enjoy your photos of butterflies and moths, in all their glory at any life stages - so please bring (hardcopy prints) along! Attendees will have the opportunity to peruse them during intervals and vote for their favourites, with the winners included in forthcoming issues of The Adonis.

28/01/2026

White Hill, Shoreham: Habitat Management

Volunteering Days

 

Looking for ways to warm up, and contribute to local conservation efforts? Why not join one of our work parties at White Hill?🌱🪵🦋

There are a further 3 task days coming up in January and February at this remarkable site. We aim to make a restorative impact on the habitat this year, hence additional task days have been for that purpose which we are keen to fill. It would be fantastic get more branch volunteers lending a hand to this effort this year. The dates are:

📆Thu 29th January (Tomorrow!)

📆 Thu 12th February

📆 Thu 19th February

 

All days will involve cutting and raking the meadow areas, and extending them by pushing back encroaching scrub. Task days start at 10am and finish at approximately 3pm. All volunteers will need to bring a packed lunch (hot drinks, biscuits, and all tools needed are provided). We recommend that everyone wear sturdy boots, ideally with steel toe caps.

 

Volunteers park along Station Road https://maps.app.goo.gl/hDc34Vy8RuwGG4r68 and meet at the layby on Shoreham Road https://maps.app.goo.gl/qjmMnQwoVsotGTaB9.

 

If you plan to come, please contact North West Kent Countryside Project (NWKCP) task leader Nina Skinner on [email protected] or 07816 128553 to give her a good idea of numbers.

29/12/2025

Looking for something to do in this funny period between Christmas 🎄 and the New Year? 🥳

It's a great time to upload any outstanding records from 2025 to iRecord so we can build a much fuller picture of how various species have fared throughout Kent and SE London this year. All records are welcome, but in Kent certain species including the Large Tortoiseshell, Purple Emperor, Duke of Burgundy, White-Letter Hairstreak and Brown Hairstreak are all of particular interest due to their recent expansions in this county. 🦋

Of course, you are always welcome to contact us directly with any record queries on social media or through our website.

We wish you a happy new year, and I'm sure we are all counting down the days to the first butterflies and moths of the Spring! 🎆

20/11/2025

🌿🍂 A successful Brown Hairstreak egg hunt took place on Monday at Leybourne Lakes, with 7 eggs being found across the site.

This means that they're now recorded only 1km away from the East Kent border!

There remains a lot of areas in West Kent where they must be under-recorded, and winter is the best time to be searching Blackthorn for their eggs (a good example in the photo above).

The following sites/ Areas are of interest alongside any of the surrounding area which may be suitable.

 

Trosley Country Park

Birling Estate

Mereworth

Knowle

Plaxtol Village

Ightham

Darenth Country Park

Jeskyns Country Park

Shorne Woods

South of Tonbridge/ Tunbridge Wells

Paddock Wood  

Westerham

Ide Hill

 🔎Happy hunting- and make sure to log any finds on iRecord!

📸 Photo Credits- 1. William Malpas, 2. Hannah Gilham (Leybourne Lakes), 3. Steven Loftin1km

29/10/2025

🌿 Winter work parties at White Hill! 🌿

Exciting news — the North West Kent Countryside Project (NWKCP), with support from Kent Downs National Landscape and Butterfly Conservation, are running six winter volunteer sessions this season to help keep White Hill’s meadows thriving.

📅 First dates coming up in November:

Wed 12th Nov

Wed 26th Nov

📍Location : Volunteers park along Station Road https://maps.app.goo.gl/hDc34Vy8RuwGG4r68 and meet at the layby on Shoreham Road https://maps.app.goo.gl/qjmMnQwoVsotGTaB9.

☎️If you plan to come, please contact NWKCP task leader Nina Skinner on [email protected] or 07816 128553 to give her a good idea of numbers.

These early sessions are a great chance to get stuck in and help open up some of the scrubbed-over meadow areas — your efforts will make a real difference! 💪

More dates will follow in January and February, but if you can make it this month, we’d love to see you there. Volunteers of all experience levels welcome — it’s fun, hands-on, and a perfect way to enjoy the outdoors this winter.