Essex Wildlife Trust
Essex Wildlife Trust reports a record-breaking year for heath fritillary butterflies at one of their nature reserves, managed especially for this butterflies’ recovery.
The heath fritillary butterfly was once close to extinction in the UK, but thanks to conservation efforts, numbers are on the rise.
Jim Higham
Only found from May-July, heath fritillaries are restricted to specialised habitats, preferring sunny, warm and sheltered environments. Colonies of this delicate butterfly occupy sheltered and coppiced woodland in the south-east of England where their larval food plant, common cow-wheat is present.
The Trust, alongside dedicated volunteers, have been carefully managing ancient woodland to maintain this specialised habitat for over a decade.
Previously, record numbers of 148 heath fritillary butterflies were announced in 2019. This year, 218 were recorded at Pound Wood nature reserve in south Essex, making it the highest number the Trust has seen to date.
Despite this success story, reports show that 80% of the UK’s butterfly species have declined in abundance and/or distribution in the last 50 years.
To combat these declines, Essex Wildlife Trust launched Butterfly Seekers in 2023, a citizen science campaign to record butterflies in Essex. Between March and September, the public are asked to record any butterfly they see in Essex on an app. These records will be used to inform conservation efforts for butterflies in Essex, with the aim of recovering more species, alongside the heath fritillaries.
Ruth Angrave, Nature Reserves Manager (South) for Essex Wildlife Trust, says:
“We are thrilled to report the highest number of heath fritillary butterflies to date on our nature reserves. These rare butterflies are a remarkable recovery story for conservation. This is why recording sightings of butterflies is important. The more data we collect, the more we can do for their conservation. Last year, we had over 10,000 butterfly sightings recorded through our Butterfly Seekers campaign. We encourage the public to look for butterflies in their gardens, local green spaces and nearby nature reserves so we can have more success for butterflies like our heath fritillary populations.”
