Simon Saville, BC Trustee and Chair of the Surrey & SW London Branch, is half way through his gruelling 1,200 cycle from Land’s End to John o’Groats to help fight the decline of butterflies and moths.

In his latest blog below he talks about hitting the halfway point.

I'm halfway through my Bike For Butterflies, having completed 600 miles in 15 days. 

It's been a roller coaster … there have been lots of highs, but I've struggled at times and had to dig deep, especially in the rain recently. 

Doing this ride solo is tougher than I expected and the support I've had - on the ground, on social media, and through donations - has been fantastic. It's meant more than you can imagine. 

In terms of "highs", I was blown away by the Silver-studded Blues at Prees Heath Common. It almost brought tears to my eyes to see so many butterflies in one place. And I was inspired by the wildflower meadow in Milnshaw Park. Both examples show what is possible if we try. But how do we create this change at scale, across the whole country, and in towns and cities?

No single organisation could do this alone. Even together, the wildlife charities would struggle to have the required impact. What's required is a change of system and a change of mindset. 

I'm left reflecting that wildlife is being squeezed into special places that we call "reserves". The reserves are great, but I want to see wildlife everywhere. 

Two thirds of the UK is farmed, either for crops or grazing. Today, this means pesticides, insecticides, fertilisers, and soil erosion. Don't blame the farmers for this, they are only responding to our demands. 

We must reverse the trend towards intensive agriculture, if we are to bring wildlife back into the countryside. That's a big task, that will require us all to work together. 

Meanwhile, we can easily create wildflower meadows in our urban parks. It's not difficult or expensive to make our towns and cities greener, healthier and wilder. We know how to do it, so let's get started! The Big City Butterflies project in London is paving the way, so let's learn from what works and replicate it at scale.

 

Simon Saville
Tues 6th July

Notes
●    The route and other details are on the website www.bikeforbutterflies.org 
●    You can follow Simon’s progress on Twitter @sbsaville (also on the website)
●    The link for donation is www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bikeforbutterflies

About Simon
●    Simon Saville is a trustee of Butterfly Conservation and is Chair of the Surrey & SW London Branch. He lives in London, is a proud promoter of the Big City Butterflies project, and is a London National Park City Ranger.