THE once-extinct large blue butterfly, reintroduced to the UK in 1984, flew in its highest numbers for at least 80 years this summer.

The news shows the Large Blue Project collaboration between Somerset and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trusts has been a successful one, belying widely-reported warnings that 2016 could be the worst year on record for British butterflies.

Thanks to meticulous conservation management, south-west England now supports the largest concentration of large blues known in the world. Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Green Down and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and Royal Entomological Society’s Daneway Banks saw over 10,000 adult large blues in 2016, according to Professor Jeremy Thomas, chair of the Joint Committee for the Restoration of the Large Blue Butterfly - which equates to roughly 60% of the UK population. Together they laid more than a quarter of a million eggs on the abundant thyme and marjoram flowers.

Reserves manager for Somerset Wildlife Trust, Mark Green said: “The amazing numbers of Large Blues recorded this year show what can be achieved through close partnership working and landscape scale conservation land management, underpinned by sound science.

"Large blue numbers had declined significantly two years ago, due to unfavourable weather conditions. But, thanks to the project partners creating and maintaining a number of well-connected core sites, the butterfly has now bounced back to record numbers.

"I feel proud to play a part in this highly successful project, which gives me hope that we can reverse the declines of other vulnerable species.”