Sheepdrove Trinity Butterfly Project 2007

The Sheepdrove Trinity Butterfly Project kick-started the farm's mission to help rare butterflies. Eighteen students from Trinity School came to Sheepdrove Organic Farm during their work experience week in July 2007, for hands-on wildlife conservation work. Students joined Jason Ball, manager for biodiversity and alternative energy, to survey Bockhampton Down, a restored area of downland, and establish host flora for rare butterflies.

They planted Devil's-bit Scabious for Marsh Fritillary and Kidney Vetch for Small Blue. Everyone learned how to identify key species of plants and butterflies, so that they could carry out wildlife survey work. Although Bockhampton Down is packed with wildflowers such as Self-heal and Lady’s Bedstraw, the Marsh Fritillary and Small Blue cannot breed here without their favoured host plants. The Marsh Fritillary is especially vulnerable with only one breeding site left on the whole of the Berkshire Downs, and the Small Blue is rarely seen in the area.

Fifteen-year-olds who are more usually absorbed in mobile phones and mp3 players took quickly to identifying wildflowers and butterflies. Many will remember this week as the time they first learned what a Marbled White is, or a Greater Knapweed, and suddenly they knew the bird above them was a Skylark. (In fact the team even discovered a Skylark nest holding four downy chicks.)

The vast expanse of colour at Bockhampton Down was overwhelming for some – who just had to run into the meadow and throw themselves into the flowers!

The keenest members of the team have offered to return to Sheepdrove to check on the 350 new flowers they planted, and to add Horseshoe Vetch to the list. One student, Chris, interviewed by Kick FM local radio said, “We take so much from the environment, finally we’ve had a chance to put something back.”

The team members can return to see their project site at any time in the future, checking on the new colonies of wildflowers they planted, and looking out for rare butterflies. This is because Sheepdrove Organic Farm allows Permissive Access on Bockhampton Down, so the general public can walk the whole field.

An educational partnership

Education Business Partnership West Berkshire brought the school and the farm together to discuss the idea, which highlighted an opportunity for both organisations to benefit by working together. Trinity School jumped at the chance of a special project on an organic farm, at the heart of the North Wessex Downs AONB.

Julia Hallam of Education Business Partnership West Berkshire linked the project partners. She said, “This is the first time we have done a placement like this and we are very pleased with how it has gone. The students obviously took a lot of detail on board and really got involved.”

Trinity teacher Sue MacIntyre said, "We were privileged to be partners in a project to help nationally important wildlife in a nationally important landscape. It's all about getting out into the community, and Sheepdrove is part of that community. Pupils experienced a big contrast working in the countryside, yet it's so relevant to their National Curriculum too. We have seen some students find a niche for themselves and all of them responded positively to the range of work at the farm this week."

About the butterflies

Rare butterflies Marsh Fritillary, the Small Blue and Duke of Burgundy are top of the list at Sheepdrove Organic Farm. The farm would like to see a comeback to the downland where these species probably thrived a hundred years ago. They are among the UK's top priority species, also highlighted in the recent report - Boosting Butterflies in the North Wessex Downs AONB.

"These butterflies are very choosy when it comes to habitat and so they are very sensitive to changes to land management,” explains Jason Ball who leads the wildlife conservation efforts at Sheepdrove. Marsh Fritillary caterpillars only eat scabious, and their favourite is Devil's-bit Scabious. Duke of Burgundy larvae only eat Cowslip and its close relatives, and caterpillars of Small Blue only seem to eat Kidney Vetch."

"None of these rare butterflies breed at the farm yet, but if we can grow more of the host plants that are missing, perhaps the rare butterflies will settle here. These sensitive species desperately need extra places to live to reverse the massive population declines of the 20th century."

Grants

Money from the North Wessex Downs AONB's Sustainable Development Fund paid for items such as the locally-sourced native wildflowers, close-focus binoculars for butterfly surveys and tough work gloves. Horseshoe Vetch (being nurtured right now at Flower Farms of Shalbourne who specialise in native wildflowers) will also be planted to provide food for Chalkhill Blue and Adonis Blue. Find out what makes an eligible project at the North Wessex Downs AONB website

Sharing knowledge to reverse butterfly decline

Data collected by the student team will go to the local environmental records centre - in this case Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre. Jason says, "TVERC safeguards and shares data with conservation projects. So giving our records to TVERC will help inform the wildlife conservation of the future, indicating what species are locally common or rare, where they thrive, or where they're disappearing."

Jason adds, "We would be very lucky indeed if any of our target butterflies were to establish breeding populations at the farm's on Bockhampton Down. But this project with Trinity School made a great start. Long term, if we change our management of this field, then one day our hard work could be rewarded. Meanwhile there are at least 23 other types of butterfly at the farm who will enjoy the new wildflowers!"

Links:

Trinity School
North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Butterfly Conservation
Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre
Education Business Partnership West Berkshire