Secret site of chequered skipper butterfly’s English revival revealed

Species that disappeared from Northants woods in 1977 is thriving four years after its reintroduction

Nature lovers will be able to enjoy the high-speed flight of the chequered skipper butterfly in an English woodland for the first time in more than 45 years this summer.

Such is the success of a four-year reintroduction programme to return the rare insect to the woods of Northamptonshire, where it fell extinct in 1977, that its secret site can be revealed to the public.