Think big for butterfly survival

Butterflies can only effectively be conserved in their natural habitat.

The snag is that for many species, their natural habitat has been shrinking and fragmenting.

Butterfly Conservation President Sir David Attenborough marked the launch of this year's Save Our Butterflies Week by announcing a new national strategy to address this challenge.

Twenty UK landscapes have been designated as Butterfly Survival Zones.
These will help Butterfly Conservation explain to the public that to be most effective, science has shown us that conservation needs to be on a landscape scale.

Sir David said: "Almost unbelievably, much of Britain's countryside is a no-go area for many favourite butterflies. Habitat has been ploughed up or become overgrown. Anybody who's been for a country walk recently will tell you butterflies are a rarity. Scientists fear that in some areas we're entering a post-butterfly era."

Sir David made his announcement at the Natural History Museum in London, which was hosting the Amazing Butterflies exhibition.

Butterfly Conservation Chief Executive Dr Martin Warren said: "Butterflies may be tiny, but to save them you have to think big. A small colony of butterflies is always vulnerable. A vast chain of habitats is needed to let them spread and establish new colonies. Butterfly Conservation is already talking to many hundreds of landowners and plans to talk to thousands more over coming years. They'll be urged to use Government grants to restore habitat on farms and estates in the 20 zones. The aim is to achieve entire landscapes with suitable habitat."

Dr Warren said that Butterfly Conservation had already successfully trialled the landscape approach in areas as far apart as the North York Moors and Dartmoor.

This year's Save Our Butterflies Week was also part of Butterfly Conservation's 40th anniversary celebrations. It was conceived when amateur naturalists realised the disastrous affect the introduction of intensive agriculture in the 1950s was having on butterfly numbers.

Dr Warren said: "Butterfly numbers are still declining at an alarming rate, but we have proved that we can reverse declines when we intervene. That means involving thousands of people to ensure farming and butterflies can co-exist. This is the start of our biggest intervention yet with the establishment of Butterfly Survival Zones in these 20 key landscapes."