Decline in over three-quarters of UK butterfly species is 'final warning', says Chris Packham

Conservationist calls for urgent research into disappearance of British butterflies after survey reveals dramatic declines in common species over last 40 years

More than three-quarters of Britain's 59 butterfly species have declined over the last 40 years, with particularly dramatic declines for once common farmland species such as the Essex Skipper and small heath, according to the most authoritative annual survey of population trends.

But although common species continue to vanish from our countryside, the decline of some rarer species appears to have been arrested by last ditch conservation efforts.