Butterfly Conservation’s East Midlands Branch is celebrating after receiving a £15,288.00 funding boost from SITA Trust for ‘Conserving the Grizzled Skipper Butterfly in the Vale of Belvoir, Leicestershire’.
This declining species is easily identified from its upper wings, which are a checker-board of black and white, outlined along the edges with black and white bars.
The project to restore and enhance habitat for the Grizzled Skipper will focus along a 10 kilometre stretch of disused railway line in Leicestershire. Volunteers will help with scrub clearance, tree removal and reduction and the creation of 15 open clearings, in the hope this will encourage the butterfly to breed. The project will also provide important links between two of the four currently separate populations of Grizzled Skipper in Leicestershire.
Butterfly Conservation’s local Branch organiser, Bill Bacon, said: "Butterfly Conservation is thrilled by this grant. The East Midlands Branch has been working hard to stem the decline in numbers of this charismatic and locally rare butterfly, which is at the most northerly part of its national range around the Vale of Belvoir. The money will enable us to undertake habitat improvement in Leicestershire that will lead to an increase in numbers - not only of the Grizzled Skipper - but of other butterflies, including the Brown Argus and Small Copper.”
Jools Granville of SITA Trust added: “We are delighted to have been able to support this project through the Landfill Communities Fund and are happy to be contributing to the safeguarding of this important and rare species.”
SITA Trust provides grants through the Landfill Communities Fund. This important source of funding has been available since 1997 and has provided such worthy projects with more than £1.3 billion.
For more information about this project, including volunteering opportunities to take part, please visit Butterfly Conservation’s East Midlands Branch website or to learn more about volunteering for Butterfly Conservation in other parts of the country, please click HERE.
For information on how to apply for funding from SITA Trust call (01454) 262910 or visit www.sitatrust.org.uk.
SITA Trust is an independent funding body set up in 1997 to provide funding through the Landfill Communities Fund. To date SITA Trust has supported more than 3,600 projects to a combined value of over £100 million.
Enhancing Communities: SITA Trust funding enhances communities in England, Scotland and Wales by supporting community driven projects to improve vital public recreation facilities such as village halls, community centres, sport, heritage, green spaces and play areas.
Enriching Nature: SITA Trust funding enriches nature by supporting biodiversity conservation projects in England and WalesLandfill Tax and the Landfill Communities FundSITA Trust receives its funding through HM Government’s Landfill Communities Fund. Funding is donated by SITA UK, one of the nation’s leading recycling and resource management companies.Any rubbish that is thrown away and cannot be reused ends up in a landfill site. Operators of landfill sites collect tax on each tonne of landfill for HM Treasury. The purpose of this tax is to make it more expensive to put waste into landfill, in turn encouraging us to reduce our waste and recycle more. A small proportion of this tax can be used to support a wide range of environmental projects near landfill sites, through the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF). Through the LCF over £1.3 billion has been invested in UK projects. SITA Trust is part of the LCF, which is regulated on behalf of HM Government’s Revenue & Customs by ENTRUST. For further information, please visit www.entrust.org.uk