Written question asked by Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 25 October 2024, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 30 October 2024 (named day). It was answered by Mary Creagh (Labour) on Wednesday, 30 October 2024 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Butterflies

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of swallowtail butterfly numbers in (a) North Norfolk constituency and (b) England.

Answer: The swallowtail is a nationally rare butterfly and is restricted as a breeding species to the Norfolk Broads. The species was categorised as Vulnerable in the 2022 International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Regional Red List for Great Britian, moving from the near threatened category in 2010. This was due to a substantial population reduction in England of more than 30% in the previous 10 years. We have no separate trend data for the North Norfolk constituency.

Secondary information