www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi all,
Yesterday I met up with a group of BC Sussex committee members to look at a private site where habitat management for Dukes has been ongoing since 2006. It was a good opportunity to show where a lot of Branch money has been directed, what has been acheived here, and where extended work is planned for the future. The butterflies did a great job of helping themselves, by emerging in good numbers that morning. We saw 28 male Dukes, including 4 in an area where they have just set up a 'satellite' colony. Still very early in the season on this site, so hopefully numbers will build significantly over the next few days. A couple of us then went on to another colony, discovered only last May. This site was so completely overgrown that I feared we might not be in time to save them (couldn't find a single food plant last year) and that our intervention had come too late in the day. So it was very good news to see 2 females laying eggs here. By next season the initial habitat work performed last winter will really start to 'kick in', so things are looking good It was one of those days that make all the hard work worthwhile.
Neil

It was, indeed, so encouraging to see an expanding population of such an endangered butterfly.
Vision, expertise and hard work are certainly paying off Neil.
Well done to all concerned.

I'll add one of the photos that I took that day:

Hi all,
It's been a great week for Duke conservation! Firstly, I travelled to Kent to join forces with Fran Thompson, the BC Denge Woods Officer. We saw 15 on a site discovered only last year and found 8 at an entirely new location. Bearing in mind that there are only a couple of known populations remaining in Kent, this was very good news.
This morning I returned to the West Sussex site mentioned in the first posting, and it was immediately obvious that this was to be a 'Red Letter Day'! A conservative count of 62 male Dukes on the 'core' site, a single female egg-laying on a recently cut, adjacent area of coppice, and a further 6 males at the new 'satellite' site. Bearing in mind that the results of habitat management are only seen in subsequent years, the best may still be yet to come!
Neil

Well done that man!

Kipper is to be congratulated as well as he has won an award for his hard work for the Dukes.

Yeah - definitely well-deserved!

Cheers,

- Pete