A BUTTERFLY from the Mediterranean has emerged on the south coast in record numbers for the second time in three years, the Lulworth-based Butterfly Conservation charity has revealed.

More than 60 Long-tailed Blues have been spotted from Suffolk to Dorset since August, in what is believed to be the second largest emergence of the butterfly in UK history.

Neil Hulme, of the Butterfly Conservation, said: “This really is amazing and I strongly believe climate change has a part to play in this.”

The Long-tailed Blue has previously been considered a very rare visitor to UK shores, despite being abundant across southern Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

Mr Hulme said: “We have seen one of the largest ever migrations of this butterfly into the UK, only exceeded by the record numbers of 2013.

“Coming so soon after the last major invasion, despite a collapse in the August weather, this really is amazing.

“This is one of the world’s more successful species of butterfly. It may be small, but it is a very powerful flyer capable of crossing mountain ranges and seas.”

Migrating butterflies crossed the English Channel in August and laid thousands of eggs in gardens and allotments along the south coast.

In hot weather it can go through its entire life cycle in just over a month, which is half the period taken by many other butterfly species.

“The caterpillar grows up inside the flowers and pods of peas and similar plants, hidden away from predators,” explained Mr Hulme. “It has the full toolkit for world domination.

“The one thing that holds it back is that it can’t survive the winter this far north, but to see this number of Long-tailed Blues entering in the UK again does suggest that the species is undergoing a significant change in its geological spread."

“I suspect that its zone of permanent residency in southern Europe is extending northwards in response to climate change, bringing it within closer range to the south of England.”