This week, we’re taking part in the Big Give Green Match Fund to raise £20,000 for conservation science
Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when the campaign goes live
Green Match Fund 2025
Have your donation doubled between 22-29 April
About the Big Give
The Big Give’s match funding campaigns offer a unique opportunity for you to double the difference you can make in the world for the causes close to your heart.
Their Green Match Fund is committed to amplifying the impact of every donation, doubling the difference for global efforts to protect and preserve our planet, making your support twice as powerful in driving meaningful change.
About the Large blue butterfly
The iconic Large blue butterfly is a globally endangered species and was declared nationally extinct in 1979.
Thanks to the unique expertise of our conservation science team over the past 30+ years we have successfully reintroduced this rare species to Gloucestershire and Somerset, with new sites currently being identified. Seeing the Large blue fly across these landscapes has been a real conservation success story, one that truly bucks the trend of biodiversity decline.
However, over the course of the last ten years, there have been several extreme weather events which have seen the populations of these and associated species decline, making this iconic butterfly particularly vulnerable to climate change.
We now need your help to support the butterfly’s survival, increasing its populations in a changing climate
More research is needed for this species and others on each site to thrive, and it is only through meticulous monitoring, working with other conservation organisations, land owners and volunteers that we can ensure the best possible future for the Large blue butterfly.
We can counter climate change impacts by adaptations to land management, and by identifying new Large blue introduction sites with greater climate change resilience.
Data-logger locations at the Gloucestershire siteOur team of conservation scientists have unique international expertise in this area and will carry out in-depth surveys of Large blues and associated species such as ants and beetles to help us identify population trends and give evidence-based advice to land managers.
We will use temperature dataloggers to measure soil and air temperature on both existing and potential Large blue sites. This will produce vital evidence of the impacts of extreme weather, and help to prioritise new sites for introductions into landscapes with greater flexibility to prosper under a changing climate.
Help us raise £10,000 which will be match funded via Big Give – That means your contributions will be DOUBLED, giving us £20,000
The RES have a membership of over 5,000 entomologists and insect enthusiasts. Just £1 from each member takes us half way to our target.
Your kind donation will help to fund monitoring and vital equipment to carry out survey work:
- A donation of £20 could help towards training new people to monitor Large blue butterfly populations.
- A donation of £50 could contribute to our team doing more ecological surveys on current sites and potential new sites for the species to thrive.
- A donation of £100 could support us with installing additional temperature data loggers on Large blue sites to monitor the impact of extreme weather events.
- A donation of £200 could pay towards the establishment of a new Large blue butterfly colony.
Have your donation doubled between midday 22 – 29 April
Donate this week!
Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when the campaign goes live
