Last chance for Kent’s rare woodland butterflies & moths...
Volunteers are out this week looking for some of Britain’s rarest butterflies and moths, as Butterfly Conservation launches a three-year campaign to transform South East England’s dark, overgrown woodlands into lighter, sunnier places full of butterflies.
Duke of Burgundy, photo by Steve McCarthy
Despite high levels of development in the South East, woodland still covers 14% of the region.
Over recent decades much of this woodland has become gloomy and neglected. Lack of sunlight has killed off plants on which caterpillars feed and on which butterflies rely for nectar.
Woodland butterfly numbers have plunged, with species such as the beautiful Duke of Burgundy down by a frightening 50% in the past 30 years. Once widespread in Kent, this species is now found only in small numbers in woodland near Petham.
The Denge Woods Project area between Ashford and Canterbury is one of three large wooded landscapes where Butterfly Conservation staff will be showing how to get woods back into a healthy condition, and working with local people to look for and improve conditions for our rare and declining butterflies and moths. The others are at Rother Woods near Rye, East Sussex and Tytherley Woods on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border.
Woodland Project Manager Dr Dan Hoare said: “Butterflies are disappearing fast in the South East, creating large tracts of healthy woodland landscape will let these species thrive. We’ll show woodland owners what can be achieved and what grants are available. Simple woodland management can make use of this precious resource and let wildlife thrive. Woods needn’t be all dark and oppressive. We need light and we need butterflies.”
He added: “We are really grateful to Heritage Lottery Fund, the Tubney Charitable Trust and all our other supporters, such as the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, for making this possible.”
The Forestry Commission is a major partner in the project, using it’s woods to illustrate what can be done, and offering grants to help private woodland owners improve conditions for wildlife.
Jonathan Spencer, Senior Ecologist at Forestry Commission England said: “This exciting project is bringing action into the woods where it’s most needed to stop biodiversity declines.”
The Denge Woods Project needs help from local people to record butterflies and moths, and search the area for our rarer species. This work is vital in providing information on the health of populations of butterflies and moths, changes over time and targeting areas and landowners for habitat improvements.
Denge Woods Project Officer Fran Thompson says “Now butterflies and moths have emerged from their winter hideaways I hope we can inspire local people to join our growing group of volunteer surveyors helping the project. No matter what your experience, we need your help!”
The Butterfly Identification session at Denge Woods on Sunday is one of many activities taking place over the next three years including butterfly walks, night-time moth surveys and training sessions in identification, where species live and useful recording. More information on how you can get involved, and upcoming events, is available at www.dengewoods.org.
The campaign is Britain’s biggest ever butterfly conservation project. It is being made possible by a £289,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant, £200,000 from the Tubney Charitable Trust and £30,000 from SITA Trust. Total expenditure from all sources on the three-year scheme will be close to £900,000.
Heritage Lottery Fund Regional Manager Sheena Vick said: “Initiatives like this are vital in ensuring future generations enjoy the wildlife that we do today.”
Additional Information
Butterflies
Butterflies are beautiful. They are also incredibly sensitive to change. This makes them excellent indicators of environmental degradation and climate change. They have been adopted as biodiversity indicators by the UK government, while the EU is expected to adopt them as indicators on a pan-European scale.
Woodlands
Woodlands still cover 14% of South East England (Kent, Surrey, Hampshire, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire). The region has 40 per cent of England’s ancient woodland, i.e. continuously wooded since 1600 and rich in terms of biodiversity and history.
It is estimated that a third of the region’s woodland is neglected and is no longer used or managed.
Butterfly Conservation is the largest butterfly conservation charity in Europe with over 13,000 members in the UK. Its aim is the conservation of butterflies, moths and their habitats. It runs conservation programmes for over 60 threatened species of butterflies and moths, organises national butterfly recording and monitoring schemes, and manages over 30 nature reserves. Further information can be found at: http://www.butterfly-conservation.org
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