Large Tortoiseshell Butterfly Returns to UK

0:00It's March 28th. This is Lester News today, your AI-powered local news. A butterfly long-thought extinct in the UK just made a surprise return in southern England. The large tortoise shell has popped up multiple times in recent weeks across Kent, Cessix, the Isle of White, Cornwall, and Dorset. Conservationists at Butterfly Conservation are now calling it a breeding resident here, the first such status since the 1980s. These figure warmer climates are driving more of these butterflies north from Europe, letting them settle back in Britain. We still don't fully know why they banished decades ago, but rising temperatures seem to be the key factor boosting their numbers constant and wide. Folks are buzzing about this rare sighting, especially since the large tortoise shell is bigger than its common cousin, the small tortoise shell, and sticks to woodlands instead of gardens. These caterpillars munch on leaves from elms, willows, aspens, and poplars, thriving high up and trees, past theories blamed Dutch elm disease for wiping them out, but now scientists

1:02say Britain was just at the edge of their natural range. Climate shifts aren't just helping this one other. Continental moths are migrating or rebounding here too. If you spot one, snap a pick and log it on the Free Eye Record app to help track their breeding spots. Just like this show, natures got some fight left, pushing back against the odds.