Midlands fritillaries

This far-reaching project covers 168 sites in nine key landscapes throughout the Midlands:

• Cannock Chase
• Herefordshire Commons
• Malvern Hills
• Oswestry Hills
• Princethorpe Woodlands
• South Shropshire and North Herefordshire Woodlands
• Shropshire Rush Pastures
• Wyre Forest
• The Forest of Dean

The aim is to conserve five threatened fritillary butterflies.

• High Brown Fritillary
• Pearl-bordered Fritillary
• Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary
• Dark Green Fritillary
• Silver-washed Fritillary

The work being undertaken will also benefit a further eleven UK BAP priority species of butterfly and moth and five UK priority habitats.

Butterfly Conservation has previously worked on about half these sites, so an important element of the project is to consolidate earlier efforts. For example, following species surveys, landowners will now be contacted and provided with land management advice.

Targeted habitat management will provide maximum benefit to the butterflies and moths. During 2009/10 we will undertake 112 ride-side clearings, some coppicing and butterfly bank creation in the Princethorpe Woods in Warwickshire. In the South Shropshire Woods an extensive ride-side widening and conifer removal programme on six sites will be implemented in 2010/12.

Another key component of the project is to ensure new sites are properly surveyed and known sites continue to be monitored. Much of the survey and monitoring is supported by the Warwickshire and West Midlands Branches of Butterfly Conservation, but involving local people is an essential part of the project too. The successful recruitment and training of new recorders has already provided a skilled team of volunteers to continue the programme of habitat condition monitoring in several landscapes, as well as in new areas such as the Forest of Dean where Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary habitat was mapped and assessed in 2010.

Contacts

email your comments or queries to:

Dr Jenny Joy, Midland Fritillary Project Manager
Mike Slater, Project Officer (Princethorpe Woodlands)
Nick Williams, Project Officer (all landscape areas outside Warwickshire)

Funders

Thanks to Countdown 2010,Tubney Charitable Trust, Biffaward and SITA Trust for funding this vitally important work.