The British List

[Lawts]

Is there a definitive reference that details all of the British species ever recorded, and their occurrence numbers, (for the rarer species) similar to what the BBRC produce for birds?

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Lawts,

The definitive list used on this website is: Agassiz, D.J.L., Beavan, S.D. and Heckford, R.J. (2013) Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles. There have been a few updates since it was first published.

This work does not include any information on numbers - the most unusual are usually singletons.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Lawts]

Thanks Pete.

So there's nothing that confirms how many of the rarer species we've ever had?

[Pete Eeles]

I think there is, although the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme does not recognise the 'one offs'.

For example, the Black Hairstreak (resident) is recorded, as is the Camberwell Beauty (not resident).

However, we then have sightings of deliberate introductions (e.g. European Map), accidental introductions (e.g. Geranium Bronze) and the weird and wonderful (e.g. Albin's Hampstead Eye) that are not (to the best of my knowledge) recorded at all since they've clearly not arrived under their own steam. However, they are included in the checklist and the sightings sprinkled across entomological literature.

Cheers,

- Pete