A NORTH Yorkshire national park has provided a new home for a rare butterfly.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary butterflies, which have been spotted on the North York Moors have given fresh hope to conservationists who feared they could become extinct in Yorkshire.

More than half their population has been lost over the last 30 years and the species has settled in just two Yorkshire sites during the last decade.

Work by the Butterfly Conservation charity and the North York Moors National Park Authority aims to protect them.

Five butterflies were seen on the moors, an area where they had been previously unrecorded, earlier this month.

Sally Weightman, from the park authority, said: “We’re very pleased to hear such a rare butterfly is doing so well on the moors.”