New volunteer training on offer to protect brown hairstreak butterfly - The Blackdown Hills
New volunteer training on offer to protect brown hairstreak butterfly
( Last Updated: 10-06-2011 )
Local conservationists are looking for volunteers to help save a beautiful and threatened butterfly.
The presence of the elusive brown hairstreak was confirmed earlier this year in the southern part of the Blackdown Hills, in a survey carried out by Butterfly Conservation Devon and funded by the AONB.
Now more people are needed to help with the next stage of the campaign to restore brown hairstreak numbers.
This increasingly rare butterfly, which has distinctive orange ‘tails' on its hind wings, is on the wing in the late summer and early autumn. It spends much of its life in the treetops so it is rarely seen, but its eggs can be found lower down, on blackthorn bushes.
New volunteers will be trained to spot the eggs and gather data in the countryside. Butterfly Conservation will use this information to put together new advice on hedgerow management. The charity believes that sensitive management of hedges is the key to restoring the brown hairstreak's habitats.
Roger Bristow, chairman of Butterfly Conservation Devon, says:
"It is important to gather facts and understand what is causing the decline in the population of the brown hairstreak. Our findings point to the fact that a review of hedgerow management would make a difference. As conservationists we understand the difficult economic task farmers have, but without a doubt a more environmentally friendly way of maintaining our hedgerows would not only benefit the brown hairstreak but birds and other species as well."
Anyone who is interested to volunteering on the brown hairstreak project should contact Roger Bristow on 01363 84815 or email: devonbristows@btinternet.com.
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