Local people are taking action to enhance the habitat of one of the UK’s rarest butterflies, the black hairstreak.
Thanks to a £5,000 grant from BBC Wildlife Fund the Action for Hairstreaks project will improve habitats at Glapthorn Cow Pastures and Old Sulehay nature reserves, owned by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough.
This follows a successful project; Help the Hairstreaks, which featured on BBC’s Saving Planet Earth television series last year. This Wildlife Trust project set up groups of local people to take action for rare black hairstreaks by helping with monitoring across Northamptonshire.
The Wildlife Trust is the guardian of these rare butterflies at Glapthorn Cow Pastures, which was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its strong black hairstreak colony. The Trust aims to boost the population at Old Sulehay too.
Black hairstreaks are beautiful but secretive butterflies. The caterpillars need thick blackthorn scrub near sunny glades and paths. The adults fly around the top of oaks, coming down to feed on honeydew and the nectar of woodland flowers like bramble. They are protected and a ‘species of conservation concern’ in Britain. They are restricted by their specific habitat needs to only 35 woodlands between Oxford and Peterborough.
The new project will harness the volunteers’ enthusiasm to improve habitats in these special woodlands. The volunteers will coppice scrub and brush-cut and mow the paths to create ideal conditions. These habitat improvements will also benefit many other key species such as nightingales and pipistrelle bats.
Tom Day, Conservation Manager for the Wildlife Trust said, “The key to this project is the support of local people. The Wildlife Trust relies on its network of dedicated local volunteers to help manage its 135 nature reserves. We are so lucky to have a good colony of one of the UK’s rarest butterflies in our county and grateful for the funding boost from BBC Wildlife Fund”.
If you are interested to find out more about black hairstreak, the Wildlife Trust nature reserves near you or how you can get involved in the work of the Trust please visit the website; www.wildlifebcnp.org.