Many of our successes have benefited directly from your donations. Here we chart five of the best recent, or ongoing, projects:
Yorkshire Dark Bordered Beauty
This beautiful moth is now secure in its only English site at Strensall Common, Yorkshire, thanks to this project which has boosted and increased the moth’s habitat. The planting of Creeping Willow and protection from overgrazing has enabled the shrub, which is the caterpillar’s foodplant, to thrive. Volunteer monitoring showed a massive 622% increase in the number of moths counted as a result of this work.
New Forest Fritillaries
This project improved habitat work across more than 8ha of the New Forest National Park. This work resulted in a massive increase in Pearl-bordered Fritillary in the area with more than 828 sightings recorded over the two years of the project. Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary was also discovered in a previously unrecorded area and sightings of six other high priority butterflies and moths were also recorded.
Scottish bogs and butterflies
The Bog Squad project has run 50 work parties, built 148 dams to conserve peatland and restored 70 hectares of bog, to help reverse the devastating declines of the Large Heath - the only UK butterfly confined to peatland habitats.Over the past two years the Urban Butterfly Project has inspired people to connect with, and care for, inner-city nature and has trained almost 150 people to record butterflies in central Scotland.
South Essex Heath Fritillary
The threatened Heath Fritillary was found in only three woodland sites in Essex. Following work by landowners, contractors and volunteers a network of connecting rides and glades have been created where the butterfly’s caterpillar foodplant can thrive. Numbers of the butterfly have increased dramatically by 180% from 93 in 2016 to 260 in 2018 and the Heath Fritillary has also re-colonised a fourth site.
West Midlands Wood White
Conservation work across the West Midlands is having a positive impact on the rare Wood White butterfly. Adult Wood Whites were seen courting and females egg-laying just a few months after woodlands were improved with scallops (clearings) in January 2017. Since 2016 Wood Whites have been recorded at 30 sites following management work over 16ha of habitat and along almost 50km of woodland rides.
Full details can be seen in our annual reports, reviews and accounts.