SBBT will continue to promote and support World Swallowtail Day this year, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. With so many nature reserves and visitor centres closed, the emphasis will be on education and networking through social media, sharing knowledge, ideas and creativity to help conserve the world’s swallowtails. Do join in!

Trade bans have come into force for two swallowtails. Parides burchellanus, a Brazilian endemic, flies in riparian forest alongside streams crossing cerrado woodlands where its pipevine foodplant grows. It has become an easy target for collectors. Achillides chikae, the Luzon Peacock Swallowtail endemic to the Philippines and already listed on CITES, has been found as a […]

Dr Martin Partridge has been elected Trustee and Secretary of SBBT. A keen naturalist and photographer, he also serves as Chair of the Yorkshire branch of Butterfly Conservation. Expert in chemical industry R&D and serving FTSE 100 companies for many years but passionate about conservation, he has established nature reserves and a brownfield biodiversity site.

World Swallowtail Day in June was celebrated around the world with inspiring events from Slovakia to Singapore, Sabah to Sicily and Missouri to Brisbane. Lectures, quizzes, a butterfly race, a butterfly dance and field trips were amongst the projects reaching out to people far and wide. See videos, reports and pictures here.

SBBT Associate Clive Huggins has reported on his 5-week sojourn in Vanua Levu researching the newly described Natewa Swallowtail Papilio natewa. A forest species, the butterfly’s foodplant has been found and is being identified. Breeding year-round but very narrowly distributed on a remote peninsula, the species needs to be protected from overseas collectors. Details here.