Bumper year for rare butterfly by TARA GREAVES 16 January 2009 - EASTERN DAILY PRESS - Sat 17th January 2009
Hard work, aided by a £50,000 grant, has helped to restore Buxton Heath to its former glory - resulting in a bumper year for normally scarce silver-studded blue butterflies. During the project, which finishes this month, volunteers and Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) staff cleared more than five hectares of scrub. This allowed the creation of a new butterfly-friendly habitat which resulted in the number of silver-studded blues reportedly reaching 1,000 - enabling translocation of some adults to colonise another heathland site at Cawston.
Brendan Joyce, NWT director, said: “Buxton Heath is one of the best examples of lowland heathland in Norfolk and the generous grant from Biffaward allowed NWT both to protect the existing habitat and directly contribute to the ongoing restoration of this important site. “It has also provided the impetus for a larger programme of restoration to secure the future of Buxton Heath.”
Lowland heathland is a rare and threatened habitat and, as such, is a priority for nature conservation. In England, only one sixth of the heathland present in 1800 now remains and in order to restore and maintain what is left, constant management of scrub and encroaching trees is essential. The £50,000 grant meant new equipment could be bought to help create areas of bare soil, short vegetation and open ground. Marsh gentian was another key species to benefit from the restoration and, with ongoing light grazing creating and maintaining ideal conditions, it flowered over the summers of 2007 and 2008. In addition, individuals were found in outlying colonies assumed to be extinct.
Populations of nightjars and breeding woodlark have also been maintained by creating open areas of heath to provide the best foraging and breeding conditions. The Biffaward project is part of a longer term programme of restoration for Buxton Heath and work has now begun on a second phase of restoration funded by Natural England.
Buxton Heath is owned by the Hevingham Fuel Allotment Charity, originally created to provide the poor of the parish with land to graze and cut materials, but now recognised as custodians of an important wildlife habitat. NWT and volunteers from the Buxton Heath Wildlife Group work with the owners to restore the area.
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Hard work, aided by a £50,000 grant, has helped to restore Buxton Heath to its former glory - resulting in a bumper year for normally scarce silver-studded blue butterflies. During the project, which finishes this month, volunteers and Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) staff cleared more than five hectares of scrub. This allowed the creation of a new butterfly-friendly habitat which resulted in the number of silver-studded blues reportedly reaching 1,000 - enabling translocation of some adults to colonise another heathland site at Cawston.
Brendan Joyce, NWT director, said: “Buxton Heath is one of the best examples of lowland heathland in Norfolk and the generous grant from Biffaward allowed NWT both to protect the existing habitat and directly contribute to the ongoing restoration of this important site. “It has also provided the impetus for a larger programme of restoration to secure the future of Buxton Heath.”
Lowland heathland is a rare and threatened habitat and, as such, is a priority for nature conservation. In England, only one sixth of the heathland present in 1800 now remains and in order to restore and maintain what is left, constant management of scrub and encroaching trees is essential. The £50,000 grant meant new equipment could be bought to help create areas of bare soil, short vegetation and open ground. Marsh gentian was another key species to benefit from the restoration and, with ongoing light grazing creating and maintaining ideal conditions, it flowered over the summers of 2007 and 2008. In addition, individuals were found in outlying colonies assumed to be extinct.
Populations of nightjars and breeding woodlark have also been maintained by creating open areas of heath to provide the best foraging and breeding conditions. The Biffaward project is part of a longer term programme of restoration for Buxton Heath and work has now begun on a second phase of restoration funded by Natural England.
Buxton Heath is owned by the Hevingham Fuel Allotment Charity, originally created to provide the poor of the parish with land to graze and cut materials, but now recognised as custodians of an important wildlife habitat. NWT and volunteers from the Buxton Heath Wildlife Group work with the owners to restore the area.
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