A total of

3055

butterflies have been recorded
in 2024

2024 Chart

A total of

202

moths have been recorded
in 2024

2024 Chart

A total of

820

records have been submitted on line in 2024

2024 Chart

A grand total of

70024

individual butterflies recorded

View Chart

A grand total of

1044

individual
moths
recorded

View Chart

A grand total of

9282

records have been submitted on line

View Chart

There are 2 records awaiting verification.

There are 193 registered recorders.

 

Welcome to Corfu Butterfly Conservation

Butterflies are a magical part of the experience of Corfu, so captivatingly portrayed in the books by my late husband, Gerald Durrell, about his childhood on this enchanting island.

We know now that butterflies and moths are a vital part of our wildlife heritage and are valuable as sensitive indicators of the health of our environment. So, given that declines in insects are now to be seen around the globe, it begs the questions; are similar trends to be found in the Corfiot butterflies? And, if so, are the butterflies of Corfu endangered?

Corfu Butterfly Conservation

Corfu Butterfly Conservation is a project initiated by concerned residents, island visitors and scientists from all over the world. Our goal is to stimulate informed interest and produce robust scientific data that can be used to influence policy and protect habitat for the benefit of Corfu’s butterflies and the wider natural environment, on which we all depend. Our immediate aim is to record the distribution of butterflies on the island, and we would be delighted if you would help us in this effort. Ultimately, we intend to publish an atlas of Corfu Butterflies based on this information.

How can you help?

We invite you to learn more about the butterflies of Corfu and to submit your sightings to the Corfu Butterfly Survey in order to create a knowledge base that will protect them for the future. Please join our Facebook page and use this website to learn more and send us your sightings.

Our vision

Our vision is one we share with Gerald Durrell, who wrote in 1988:

We hope there will be fireflies and glow-worms at night to guide you and butterflies in hedges and forests to greet you.
We hope that your dawns will be filled with an orchestra of bird song to enchant you.
We hope there will still be extraordinary creatures sharing the planet with you to enrich your lives as they have done for us.
We hope you will be grateful for having been born into such a magical world.

The Corfu Butterfly Survey will start on the 1st January 2021 and the projected end date is 31st December 2025, which would have been the centennial year since Gerald Durrell’s birth. Please join us in doing something very special for Corfu to celebrate this exceptional event!

Lee Durrell

Lee Durrell
Corfu, 7th January 2020

Please help us in our efforts to conserve Corfu’s butterflies

Corfu Butterfly Conservation (CBC) started when a few interested individuals began sharing their photos of Corfiot butterflies on Facebook. Now it is a project designed to survey the butterflies of Corfu and in our most recent international Zoom meeting (joined by 13 members of the CBC team – from Corfu and the UK) the major item on the agenda explored how our project could turn into a charitable organisation.

Although still embryonic, this project is making substantial steps towards its goals. Whilst the Covid 19 pandemic slowed our progress and forced us to relaunch the Corfu Butterfly Survey, it still gave us plenty of time to think about how this work is to develop. In addition, we have spent a lot of time applying for funding to help further our aims.

However, it is well to remember that this effort is not one that has the backing of a range of multi-national corporations, with the unlimited time and funding that would bring. All the work you see here is provided, for the most part, by volunteers who are happy to give their time free of charge, on a pro bono basis.

So, if you can’t wait to get your hands on the Corfu Butterfly Atlas please remember that to make it, we need records. Your records will be as valuable as anyone else’s in making that happen, so please help us by submitting your sightings to this website.

If for some reason you think our website could be better, please let us know by contacting us with suggestions for improvements. If you think our project could move a little faster and you are in a position to donate to our cause, please consider doing so.

This work started because a few individuals were interested in Corfu’s butterflies. Now that we are on the verge of turning this project into a charitable organisation, it becomes increasingly less about a few individuals’ dreams and more about a community’s opportunity to work together to make a positive contribution towards conserving Corfu’s butterflies and more broadly its entire natural heritage.

I guess my point is that the more we work together the more likely it is that the goals of CBC are going to be accomplished.

We invite you to join us and would love to hear from you.

Dr Dan Danahar

Dr Dan Danahar
1st January 2021

Latest News

01/03/2024
David Shearan

Our website now lets you record the sex of the butterflies that you see but how do you know the difference between males and females?

With many Corfu species you can't tell them apart by eye but the good news is that there are still over 30 species where the male and female are visually different - all you need is to to read some clues and...


Read More

Butterfly First/Last Sightings 2024

Name Genus / species First record Recorder Last record Recorder
Southern Festoon Zerynthia polyxena 15/03/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Anne Sordinas
Large White Pieris brassicae 26/02/2024 Anne Sordinas 18/03/2024 Marina
Orange-tip Anthocharis cardamines 14/03/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Jane Barry
Large Tortoiseshell Nymphalis polychloros 08/02/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Marina
Small White Pieris rapae 13/02/2024 Anne Sordinas 18/03/2024 Hargreaves
Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas 26/01/2024 Konstantinos Zagkas 18/03/2024 Marina
Peacock Aglais io 19/01/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Jane Barry
Nettle-tree Butterfly Libythea celtis 19/01/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Hargreaves
Cleopatra Gonepteryx cleopatra 04/01/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Anne Sordinas
Painted Lady Vanessa cardui 01/01/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Jane Barry
Clouded Yellow Colias crocea 01/01/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Konstantinos Zagkas
Holly Blue Celastrina argiolus 01/01/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Marina
Wall Brown Lasiommata megera 01/01/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Hargreaves
Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria 01/01/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Jane Barry
Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta 01/01/2024 Jane Barry 18/03/2024 Jane Barry
View First/Last Sightings

Moths on the wing in March

The moth species listed below have been reported during the month of March in previous years.

Those in blue have been reported so far in March this year.

Spurge Hawkmoth Hummingbird Hawkmoth Southern Emperor Moth

Expected species for March 2024

So far this month the Corfu Butterfly Survey has recorded 26 species of butterfly. Of the 37 we have recorded in March since we started our survey (2021) this represents 70.27%. Therefore we have the potential to record another 11 species (29.73%) before the end of the month, perhaps even more!

Latest Records

ID Date Recorder
9653 18/03/24 Jane Barry
9652 18/03/24 Jane Barry
9651 18/03/24 Jane Barry
9650 18/03/24 Jane Barry
9649 18/03/24 Jane Barry
9648 18/03/24 Jane Barry
9647 18/03/24 Jane Barry
9646 18/03/24 Jane Barry
9645 18/03/24 Jane Barry
9644 18/03/24 Jane Barry
View Records

A Brief Introduction

Find out more about Corfu Butterfly Conservation in this, our firstYouTubevideo.

YouTube Channel

Corfu Butterfly Atlas

Corfu Butterfly AtlasCorfu Butterfly Conservation intends to use all the data generated by the five-year Corfu Butterfly Survey to produce the first truly comprehensive atlas of all the butterflies found in Corfu. This atlas will review the study of butterflies in Corfu, it will contain a key to the identification of all known species and there will be individual accounts on the autecology of each butterfly species, with up-to-date distribution maps and lavishly illustrated with a multitude of full colour photographs.

The atlas will identify the best places to watch butterflies, it will make recommendations for species and habitat conservation and we hope will influence the development of biodiversity policy to help conserve Corfu’s natural heritage. We invite you to be a part of this influential project by submitting your butterfly records on this site.

Corfu Butterfly Conservation

Butterfly Conservation Europe

In order to conserve butterflies effectively you need good information on where species occur. Only 55% of European countries have national schemes designed to record butterfly distribution and those without are mostly concentrated in southern and eastern Europe. Consequently, Butterfly Conservation Europe supports the establishment of new recording schemes which aim to fill those gaps.

We welcome Corfu Butterfly Conservation’s efforts to run a five-year survey of the island’s butterflies and later publish a Corfu Butterfly Atlas. Furthermore, plans to share the data widely means that the survey results will also contribute to the ongoing assessment of the status of all Europe’s butterflies.

Dr Sam Ellis
Chair, Butterfly Conservation EuropeButterfly Conservation Europe

Butterfly Conservation

Butterfly Conservation

Participating in butterfly recording schemes is one of the most effective ways members of the public can contribute to citizen science, which itself can help us understand the current status and therefore potential vulnerability of different butterfly species.

With the right training and support, butterflies can be relatively easy to identify, so potentially everyone can get involved. Corfu Butterfly Conservation does exactly that, with its informal membership - comprising of Corfiots, other Greeks, resident expats and visiting and non-visiting international contributors – that has a passion to contribute to the Corfu Butterfly Survey.

Butterfly Conservation welcomes this initiative bringing people together to record the island’s butterflies and we will support the project to enable it to realise its ambition to publish the Corfu Butterfly Atlas.

Julie Williams
Chief Executive, Butterfly ConservationButterfly Conservation

© 2020-2024Corfu Butterfly Conservation (www.corfubutterflyconservation.org). All Rights Reserved.
UK Registered Community Interest Company No.13813164.

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