Branch

Committee + Officers

YBC Committee 

Founded in 1981 Butterfly Conservation Yorkshire now has  approx. 1800 members and our represented by the committe below:

 + Membership Secretary

I am an Industrial Chemist by training and have recently retired as a Research Director at Johnson Matthey. 

I have had a lifelong interest in wildlife conservation with Butterflies being my real passion. I am a keen traveler and wildlife photographer. I help manage a large brownfield biodiversity site in Teesside on which we have recorded 25 species of butterfly. I am the species writer for the Northern Brown and Brown Argus. I am also a board trustee of the Swallowtail & Birdwing Butterfly Trust and the committee of the European Butterfly Group.

I also handle any of your questions on membership.

I have been working as a gardener and horticulturalist In Yorkshire for over 30 years. This has naturally brought me close to wildlife, especially butterflies, moths and their larval food plants. Being a keen birder, has led into volunteering for the RSPB (the Blacktoft Sands bug hunt lady) and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). My volunteering role with Butterfly Conservation Yorkshire Branch began in 2014 after responding to a request for help from Howard Frost, who was editor at the time. I'm now General Editor of the Annual Lepidoptera Report which is published jointly with the Yorkshire Naturalist's Union, also Editor of BCY's Argus Newsletter and a butterfly transect walker with a particular interest in the Dark Bordered Beauty moth on Strensall Common. 

Rachel is happiest in the fells or in open water. She loves all nature but especially butterflies and moths, her favourite being the White Ermine. Rachel lives in the Three Peaks area of the Yorkshire Dales and spends most of her spare time outside either running, walking, swimming or biking - all activities are then followed by tea and cake! Rachel runs her own business, working as an Investment Manager and lives with her husband, son and Bernard the dog. As a family they travel a lot and enjoy motorbiking and scuba diving around the world.

I work for the North York Moors National Park Authority as a Woodland Creation Officer. I am an ecologist, naturalist and biological recorder, with a focus on invertebrates (especially Coleoptera and Lepidoptera). I achieved a first in my part time MSc degree in Biological and Ecological Monitoring, researching the ecology of the Small Eggar Moth – a rare species, with a nationally important stronghold in North East Yorkshire. 

I am also leader on the Conservation Team.

I am a non practicing solicitor in a legal consultancy business having retired from partnership at a Leeds law firm in May 2020.  I’ve had a passion for all things nature and wildlife since my early days growing up on Anglesey and now love exploring these in Yorkshire with my family.  I also volunteer at RSPB St Aidan’s and as a trustee with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. 


I’ve been passionate about natural history, particularly butterflies and moths, since I was around seven years old. I still have my ‘Observer’s Book of the Larger British Moths’, given me on my ninth birthday! I worked as a children’s librarian, so having helped young people towards increased knowledge and empathy makes me feel very strongly that we should be creating new young enthusiasts for the natural world. Together with other committee members I have held talks and activities for schools and other groups, and have especially enjoyed promoting the Big Butterfly Count, and ‘gardening for butterflies and moths.’ I’m looking forward to new opportunities to inspire young people in the future. 

Rolf has a particular interest in the Northern Brown Argus and the Duke of Burgundy and as time allows joins the conservation team and leads field trips

Branch Officers  

My interest started at 8 year old when I was given a small box of  eggs by my  teacher.  "Clean their box and give them  fresh bramble leaves daily". The tiny black larvae grew to huge green caterpillars, then ginger silk cocoons  that hatched into Emperor Moths! My passion began, but, university then a  business career got in the way.   On retirement  I volunteered with BC   transect walking on Thorne Moors,  3 Hagges Woodmeadow and  Bishop Wood . My passion really grew  finding the first Yorkshire colony of Silver Washed Fritillary in Bishop Wood and  then  joining the committee in 2018.  I've learnt  habitat is 'everything' and there is so much to discover right on your doorstep.  I've learnt so much  working with colleagues, creating this website and  taking on the role of transect co-ordinator.  

Allan assists Sam Newton on the  conservation team and is point of contact for  at Fordon Chalk Bank, Yatts Farm and Gundale. 

He is  admin of the North and East Yorkshire Butterfly and Moth Facebook page as well as a being very active moth trapping around Scarborough

Son of a farmer with a keen interest in fell running and motocross, a man of action; his passion is contagious

 

07762 943379   les.driffield@yorkshirebutterflies.org.uk

After retiring from the coal mining industry,  family,  and all those other commitments I have become  a "LOL" ( Late Onset Lepidopterist). I’ve always had an interest in wildlife and ecology from working the land  on an allotment for more than 20 years.  Still I find I'm constantly learning and being amazed by our natural world every day. I own and run a nature reserve, “Wenthillside” in West Yorkshire. A site available for all BC members to visit, by prior arrangement. 

My ambition is to create conservation teams throughout South and West Yorkshire to help preserve and promote  butterflies and moths for us all to appreciate.

Kerry Metcalfe :  Butterfly Transect co-ordinator for YWT