All posts tagged: butterflies

From early birds to emerging butterflies: UK shows signs of earliest spring on record | Spring

From early birds to emerging butterflies: UK shows signs of earliest spring on record | Spring

Published by Jenni Sidey

Bluebells are flowering, swallows are returning and orange-tip butterflies are flying in what could become Britain’s earliest recorded spring. Records for early spring occurrences are being smashed as 2026 looks to be the earliest this century for frogspawn laying, blackbirds nesting, brimstone butterflies emerging and hazel flowering, according to Nature’s Calendar, which has logged citizen science records of seasonal change since 2000. This spring has had the earliest egg-laying in an 80-year study of great tits in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, with the 23 March sighting beating the previous record by three days. The birds’ average egg-laying has moved forward by 16 days since the 1960s, with these tits and other species needing to ensure their chicks are fed on caterpillars emerging with the new spring leaves. Dunsford Woods, in Devon, has logged its earliest tit egg – in the nest of a coal tit – since records began in 1955. Record-breaking early tit egg-laying has been seen in the Netherlands as well, reflecting dramatic climatic shifts across northern Europe. A brimstone butterfly seen in Oxfordshire …

How Animation ‘Black Butterflies’ Hopes to Take Flight in the U.S.

How Animation ‘Black Butterflies’ Hopes to Take Flight in the U.S.

Published by Daniella Wilson

It took Spanish filmmaker David Baute over 10 years to craft his latest feature, Black Butterflies (Mariposas Negras), and the reception so far has been worth every minute of hard work. The Canary Islands native has long considered himself a documentarian after working on the likes of The Children of the Cloud (2000), La Murga (2014) and Milagros (2017). You might be forgiven for thinking the latest in that impressive portfolio is a departure from his non-fiction background. It’s anything but: In 2D animation Black Butterflies, our three central characters are all based on real-life women. From producer Edmon Roch’s Ikiru Films and based on a screenplay by Yaiza Berrocal, the 120-minute movie follows Tanit, Valeria and Shaila, three women from very different parts of the world who face the same problem: climate change. Tanit reckons with the breakdown of her Kenyan tribe through war over water drought and Valeria is forced to leave her husband in Saint Martin after a hurricane destroys their family home. Shaila, meanwhile, is made to move to Dubai to …

9 new butterflies discovered in old museum archives

9 new butterflies discovered in old museum archives

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. When you think of butterflies, chances are you imagine unmistakable insects with bright, bold wings. But it turns out that individual butterfly species are sometimes shockingly difficult to tell apart. Cue museum collections and genetic analysis—a biological dream team.  “Thanks to the genetic revolution and the collaboration of researchers and museums in various countries led by London’s Natural History Museum, century-old butterflies are now speaking to us,” Christophe Faynel, an entomologist at the Société entomologique Antilles Guyane, said in a statement. “By comparing modern DNA with ancient DNA from historical specimens, we can resolve long confused and unnoticed species and uncover greater biodiversity than previously known.” An international team of scientists in AMISTAD, a new research project led by London’s Natural History Museum, are sorting through the members of a group of blue South American butterflies. Using  more than 1,000 samples from collections around the globe, they discovered  nine previously unidentified butterfly species in the Thereus genus. This genus gossamer-winged butterfly …