Trends in Scotland's butterflies

1. Butterflies in Scotland are monitored largely through the efforts of volunteer recorders via two different recording schemes, the Butterflies for the New Millennium Project and the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. 2. Two different types of trend are calculated, namely distribution (31 species), and abundance (20 species). 3. The results show that the trends for Scotland’s butterflies are mixed. Some species have undergone substantial range contractions, whilst other species have expanded in range. The abundance trends show that overall generalist species that occur in a wide range of habitats have increased, whilst specialist species that are largely restricted to seminatural habitats have declined. 4. The range of many butterfly populations is determined by climate. Three new species have already colonised Scotland since 2000 and in the future we may see more changes as a result of predicted climate change.