The silver-spotted skipper has just enlarged its horizons. And the green approach to farming has paid off for the chalkhill blue, according to the countryside minister, Elliot Morley.
The tide may have turned - in some places - for some of Britain's rarest and most threatened butterflies, as a result of government funded conservation schemes, he said yesterday. The long term decline in numbers has slowed, or in some cases even been reversed.
Ten of the 13 species that depend on specific habitats - heathland, coppices, woodland glades, bracken, hedgerows and so on - have fared better on sites where farmers had agreed to tend the landscape with wildlife in mind.
On chalk grassland, seven of 10 specialist butterflies had done better, because of "agri-environment" plans backed by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
To establish the evidence of a tentative revival, 2,000 volunteers conducted weekly walks through more than 500 sites in England.
"This is the first exciting evidence that Defra's agri-environment schemes are starting to halt the decline in some important butterfly species," Mr Morley said.
Martin Warren, of the charity Butterfly Conservation, said: "The results demonstrate that government investment in countryside enhancement is going to reverse long term declines in wildlife."
But the survey provided only a bright spot in a generally darkening picture. Volunteers looked at 34 butterfly species. On average, these have declined by 14% over the past 10 years.
There are 59 resident species of butterfly and moth in Britain. Fifteen species have declined by 50% or more, and five have become extinct in the past 150 years. Woodland butterflies such as the small pearl-bordered fritillaryhave declined by 39%, because woods they favour have been felled.