§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what new proposals he has to improve butterfly conservation.
§ Sir Paul BeresfordThe Conservation (Natural Habitats Etc.) Regulations 1994, implementing the EC habitats directive, take effect on 30 October. Of native species, the marsh fritillary—euphydryas aurinia—is included on annexe II of the directive, which lists those species whose conservation requires the designation of special areas of conservation; the large blue butterfly—maculinea anion—is included in annexe IV, for species requiring strict protection.
English Nature's species recovery programme is enjoying some success with the large blue butterfly. Adult butterflies have emerged on five sites and a sixth site is being prepared for next year.
The development of targets for species conservation for publication in 1995 was announced in "Biodiversity: The United Kingdom Action Plan". We expect these to include butterflies.