Scotland-wide search for one of country's rarest species - Butterfly Conservation

Butterfly Conservation is calling for people to join a Scotland-wide search for one of the smallest species in the country.

The charity's moth experts are working to save the tiny but beautiful Highland Nymph from extinction in the UK.

The miniscule moth - nicknamed the Alpine Coffee moth because of its cappuccino colouring and hardy lifestyle high in the mountains - hadn't been seen in Scotland for 20 years until it was rediscovered by a Butterfly Conservation team in 2024, but the population they found is just 30 or 40 strong.

Now the charity is appealing for volunteers to join a Scotland-wide search for more colonies of the mountain-dwelling moth.

Butterfly Conservation ecologist Patrick Cook said: "When we first started looking for this moth a few years ago it wasn't really part of our work, it was just because a group of us really wanted to see one, but in some sites where the species was previously found there was no longer suitable habitat - it then became a real mission to find the moth. We've had an incredible team of 14 people who have gone up in the hills in all conditions, clambering up steep, rocky slopes - one day we did a 15-mile round trip. It's the most challenging survey work we’ve ever completed in Butterfly Conservation - we all just really want to help this species in the UK."