Sheepdrove Rare Butterfly Project

 

Sheepdrove Organic Farm has an ambitious conservation project to help save rare butterflies, launched April 2009 with the generous help of volunteers and our partner organisations. Local naturalists George and Val Osmond inspired us with their devoted work to record and conserve rare butterflies in the local area over several decades.

Our top priority is Marsh Fritillary and other target species include the Small Blue and the Chalkhill Blue.

The first phase of the project aims to create new potential breeding sites with masses of caterpillar food plants.

Saving the Marsh Fritillary  

The adult is in flight from May to July, and feeds by drinking nectar from flowers. However, the tribes of caterpillars - which live in silken tents - usually only eat Devilsbit Scabious.

Marsh Fritillary populations have plummeted nationwide, as suitable habitat was destroyed by industrialised agriculture. Around the Lambourn Downs, the type of habitat that Marsh Fritillary needs is now scarce and only available in small, isolated patches.

The butterfly has only 1 known breeding colony left in Berkshire, but Sheepdrove is just 2 km away, within flying range, and with a growing number of Devilsbit Scabious plants!

Two target areas on the farm, one each in Berkshire and Oxfordshire, are being managed specifically to produce conditions to suit Marsh Fritillary.

Marsh Fritillary target zones - marked orange.

Conservation grazing

Making the place just right requires the services of our award-winning beef cattle! They tackle the toughest grasses and leave a patchy mixture of short and tall turf, which is good for sunbathing caterpillars. 

We will not let sheep into the special project areas, because they graze too uniformly, and eat our best caterpillar plants!

Our farming staff watch the progress of the grazing to make sure the sward is never overdone. Numbers of livestock must be kept low, to let wildflowers flourish, set seed and multiply.

We have already begun to see real changes in the target areas being grazed, and it is encouraging to see all the caterpillar food plants flowering and gradually spreading.

Caterpillar food

Sheepdrove Rare Butterfly Project has established Devilsbit Scabious for Marsh Fritillary, Horseshoe Vetch for Chalkhill Blue and Adonis Blue, plus Kidney Vetch for Small Blue.

We collected some scabious seed from existing plants at Cockcrow Bottom, and other seeds were sourced from chalk grassland in the local region.

I sourced the Kidney Vetch seed and Charles Flower Wildflowers grew lots of Horseshoe Vetch for us and hundreds of pots of Devilsbit Scabious. Charles Flower is a well known consultant and author of the stunning book, 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone?'

Making a difference

Our first major success was the arrival of Small Blue, which started its first breeding colony at Sheepdrove during summer 2010.

The special effort for rare butterflies is also good for other wildlife. At least 20 species of butterfly thrive in our project areas, which support an excellent range of chalk-loving flora such as Betony, Quaking Grass and Meadow Saxifrage. Voles, mining bees and crickets live here too.

Project partners

Leanne Smith of Natural England (far right) with project partners

Natural England supports the scheme with Environmental Stewardship funds, because the Marsh Fritillary and Small Blue are both priority species for the UK Biodiverity Action Plan, and the project fits the aims of their North Wessex Downs Target Area. > What are your local targets?  

Sheepdrove Organic Farm brought together a range of organisations and experts to develop this project:

• Natural England
• Butterfly Conservation
• Butterfly Conservation Upper Thames Branch
• Flora Locale
• Berks, Bucks and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust
• Pang Kennet Lambourn Valleys Countryside Project
• FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group)
• Forestry Commission
• Thames Valley Environment Records Centre

North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty helped germinate the farm's ideas by awarding funds for an educational partnership project with Trinity School in 2007.

The collective knowledge of the different conservation organisations was crucial. Butterfly Conservation visited the farm to help us understand the needs of the butterflies. The Forestry Commission agreed to let us have cattle in a tree plantation so that we did not lose an excellent, young woodland edge which provides shelter and nectar sources for many types of butterfly. Flora Locale provided excellent advice about where to source plants and seeds locally, and also about ground preparation methods.

Join our challenge!

Cowslips on Bockhampton Down grow in waves half a mile long!

We welcome volunteers who wish to help us to develop the project, and monitor the sites as they mature. Please contact us if you would like to be part of the team, doing tasks like these:

• create and plant new areas 
• collect and grow seeds
• plant and protect trees
• maintain gates and fences
• photography
• butterfly surveys
• plant surveys
• searches for host plants with caterpillars

 

Ecological research can also play an important role, e.g. understanding and recording the process of habitat change; or genetic and behavioural studies of butterfly populations. Matt Dowse (Southampton University) wrote a research dissertation which investigated the conservation challenge for Marsh Fritillary in the local countryside.

We are very grateful to everyone who takes part in Sheepdrove Rare Butterfly Project. Please contact me if you would like to get involved.

Jason Ball