Large Blue butterfly bucks the trend

Somerset Wildlife Trust
3rd December 2008

The Large Blue butterfly on the East Polden Hills in Somerset is turning into a real conservation success story.

After being re-introduced to Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Green Down nature reserve in 1992 the site quickly became one of the best sites in Europe for the species.

This Large Blue population has been used as a donor site for further re-introductions in the area and south west for the past 15 years.

Green Down – which is managed by SWT - is such a small and fragile site with poor access it has to be closed to the public for its flight period to protect it and the Large Blue.

In 2007 the population was reduced by a combination of a spring drought and poor weather during the flight period, however, we are pleased to report that in 2008 it has bounced back and over 3,000 Large Blues flew in June on its flower rich slopes.

It shows that the Large Blue is bucking the trend during a summer when experts believed butterfly numbers in many parts of the country stand at an all time low. Sir David Attenborough announced last month 20 UK landscapes as Butterfly Survival Zones. These zones will become the focus of efforts to save Britain’s butterflies. One is the Poldens which is great news because it means organisations like ours can continue our work ensuring the Large Blue continues to thrive.

David Simcox (Senior Scientific Officer, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) has recently praised the Trust and said: “I have worked with the Somerset Wildlife Trust and their conservation staff for nearly 20 years on this project and have found them to be highly skilled at habitat management, excellent at working with the public and they have always delivered what they promised – in this field these are rare commodities.”

The Trust also owes its success to Mr James Stratton, a local farmer, who grazes the site with his fine Dorset Horn Sheep and Ruby Red Devon Cattle.

James has always taken an interest in the butterfly and skillfully uses his animals to create the ideal sward height for Large Blues and many other species.

The animals graze the site for most of the year apart from a couple of months in the winter and several weeks while the Large Blue is on the wing in the summer. However, without the research of leading scientists Prof Jeremy Thomas (Professor of Ecology, Oxford University) and Mr David Simcox the Large Blue conservation story would never have begun…..

If you’d like to help the Large Blue, please join us.

To learn more about Somerset Wildlife Trust visit the website: www.somersetwildlife.org

To join the trust, call the membership team on 01823 652402.