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Rare butterflies - welcoming Grizzled Skippers to our canals


Spring is well and truly upon us now with blossoms, wild flowers and butterflies appearing all along our canal banks. It’s a great time to go outside and spot some wildlife, and the perfect opportunity for you to add your insect sightings to our ever-growing wildlife survey.

It is always a great pleasure to see the many different and vibrant butterflies that feed along the edges of our towpaths, but did you know that many species are actually under threat from habitat loss and degradation? In fact, one in ten species of butterfly face extinction in Europe and over a third have declining populations.

To help reverse this trend British Waterways has been working in partnership with Butterfly Conservation and local volunteers to improve habitats for rare butterflies. For example, at Fenny Compton, on the Oxford Canal, we have just finished creating banks that have been planted with Kidney Vetch. This is an important food source for the fantastically named Grizzled Skipper butterfly, which is attracted to the plants delicate yellow flowers. The new habitat will provide perfect conditions for the Grizzled Skipper, helping to boost its numbers.

Creating perfect conditions for rare butterflies

Penny Foster, British Waterways’ ecologist, said: "This is a great project to work on, as we have created a lovely new habitat for these protected butterflies. The rich lime grassland areas at Fenny Compton are a perfect breeding ground for the Grizzled Skipper. Once the Kidney Vetch has started to grow it will hopefully attract other butterfly species as well, such as the Small Blue butterfly and the Dingy Skipper, hence boosting the population of these rare insects."

The improvements at Fenny Compton come on the back of work undertaken last year at Napton reservoir, again in partnership with Butterfly Conservation and local volunteers. Banks and scrapes were created at the reservoir and planted with Kidney Vetch and Creeping Cinquefoil, essential food for the rare Small Blue butterfly which is known to live adjacent to the site. This is one of only three known locations in the West Midlands.

Mark Robinson, national ecology manager says: "These two projects are a great example of the excellent partnership work that we are undertaking with volunteers and organisations, such as Butterfly Conservation; helping to make the waterways a more attractive and exciting place to visit."

To find out more about the important work of Butterfly Conservation and how to identify different species visit their website. And don’t forget to tell us what butterflies you’ve seen by talking part in our Wildlife Survey.

Last updated: 16/06/2010