Introduction

Welcome to the website of the Upper Thames Branch of Butterfly Conservation. Founded in 1982, the Branch aims to protect butterflies, moths and their habitats in the three counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire, which includes the beautiful rolling hills of the open Downs and wooded Chilterns, the broad vales of Oxford and Aylesbury with the ancient Bernwood complex, the edge of the picturesque Cotswolds and the threatened heathlands of south-east Berkshire. We have some 550 members and the Branch is managed by the membership on an entirely voluntary basis.

The three counties are home to three quarters of the 60 or so British species of butterfly and two thirds of the 900 or so British macro-moths. Most notable amongst the butterflies are the Black Hairstreak, with half the UK colonies being found in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, and the Adonis Blue and Silver-spotted Skipper, with their most northerly UK populations in the Chilterns. Amongst the macro-moths Buckinghamshire is considered to be one of the strongholds of the Striped Lychnis, a population of the Heart Moth is to be found in Berkshire and colonies of the Barberry Carpet and Pale Shining Brown have recently been discovered in west Oxfordshire.

Thanks to the generosity of Beaconsfield Town Council the Branch has its own reserve at Holtspur Bottom in Bucks. Here we have transformed the northern side of Holtspur Valley from derelict agricultural land back to species rich chalk grassland and over the last few years the Green Hairstreak, Small Blue, Dark Green Fritillary, Chalkhill Blue and Striped Lychnis have all been recorded here. A report by Nick Bowles and Frank Banyard in the Conservation section will update you on the success of the Small Blue in the Holtspur Valley. If you would like to visit our reserve then the location can be found in the Sites section.

The Branch regularly monitors the butterflies and moths within the three counties. We have published two butterfly atlases in 1994 and 2005 and both are still available. Our rare species all receive special attention through our Species Champion programme.

During the winter we carry out conservation work at several sites, including regular Work Parties at our own reserve, and we arrange a limited number of Indoor Events. Most notable amongst these are our Members Day in late October or early November and our Conservation Action Day in February or March. During the spring and summer we have a programme of Field Meetings across the three counties. You can find details of our programme in the Events section.

Butterfly and/or moth records from non-members are very welcome and information on submitting them is given in our Your Records section. Non-members are also very welcome to attend any of our events which are listed on the Events page. If you would like to become a member of Butterfly Conservation you will receive the national magazine, Butterfly, and automatic membership of the Upper Thames Branch if you live in the area. You will also receive our Branch newsletter which is produced three times a year. Please join us now and help save our butterflies, moths and their habitats.

David Redhead, Branch Chairman, January 2007

News

Information about this website can be found in the Sitemap & Updates section. Please revisit this page in the future as it will contain latest news items and other general Branch information.

20th June 2008

As a way of celebrating the 40th anniversary of Butterfly Conservation, the Gloucestershire Branch has produced a booklet of 40 good butterfly walks in the county. "40 Butterfly Walks in Gloucestershire" has even made members of the committee want to go out and visit places they have never been to before! About 25 members of the branch have contributed the walks and the whole project was co-ordinated by Roger Wasley. It is hoped that other people will find the booklet useful and that it will heighten their interest in butterflies and the countryside around them. As Matthew Oates says in his Forward 'This book opens up some of the most wonderful English butterfly walks imaginable. Enjoy, and engage!'
The price is £4.50 to include postage and packing and details of how to order your copy are available on the Homepage of the BC Gloucestershire Branch website:
http://www.gloucestershire-butterflies.org.uk/

12th May 2008

A UTB Conservation & Publicity Success - In September 2006 the Upper Thames Branch (UTB) was involved in the refurbishment of a small area in Wood Farm Estate, Oxford as part of the ITV Big Clean-up Campaign organised by the Conservation Volunteer Service (CSV). One element of this was the planting of a new hedge and blackthorn was included at the request of UTB as the Brown Hairstreak was known to be within 1km of the site. UTB members Caroline Steel, Jim Asher and David Redhead joined local residents in helping to plant the hedge. We are now very proud to announce that last summer a Brown Hairstreak found this new hedge and laid three eggs on it. The CSV Press Office announced this via a press release this morning (Monday 12th May) and this afternoon UTB Brown Hairstreak Champion, David Redhead, spent some time at the site with the Oxford Mail & Times photographer getting pictures of the 5mm long caterpillar which had emerged from one of these eggs. Hopefully, it will also be figuring on ITV local news in the next few days.
Update 16/05/07: An article appeared in the Oxford Mail on 13th May and is currently available to read on the internet at the following link:
http://www.oxfordmail.net/search/display.var.2265747.0.rare_butterfly_settles_in_city.php
The article may be largely repeated in the weekly sister publication on Friday 16th May, the Oxford Times.

22nd October 2007

New Publication: "THE MOTHS OF HERTFORDSHIRE by Colin Plant." As Hertfordshire is one of our neighbouring counties we thought that some of you might be very interested in this 500-page A4-sized colour atlas which is due for publication by the Hertfordshire Natural History Society during the spring of 2008. It will cover all 1,523 species of macro- and micro-moth that have been recorded in Hertfordshire between 1834 and 2006. Until 31st January 2008 advanced orders are being taken at a special pre-publication price offer of £26 (including post and packing). After that date the cost will rise to the cover price of £45. To reserve your copy, go to the Herts Moth Group web-site: http://www.hnhs.org/whatsnew1.html and download an order form.

20th March 2007

A new White-letter Hairstreak Recording Project has been initiated by the Herts & Middlesex branch of Butterfly Conservation.

This three-year nationwide project aims to discover the distribution of the White-letter Hairstreak Butterfly. It has two distinct phases: locating flowering elm in springtime and looking for active males in the treetops at the start of the flight period.
If you would like to help, or would just like to learn more about this fascinating butterfly, visit the following excellent website: http://w-album.hertsmiddx-butterflies.org.uk/

15th March 2007

A new group has been established for Butterfly Conservation members wanting to help conserve butterflies and moths in Europe.

The European Interests Group is a member-based organisation within Butterfly Conservation. It aims to promote conservation work, encourage recording in Europe and work with partner organisations to lobby European governments.

BC members can join for an additional £10 fee. All correspondence,newsletters, etc., will only be sent electronically. To ask for more information click here.

Click the logo to visit EIG's website.