It’s ‘Save Our Butterflies Week’ starting 19 July, organised to stem their decline by the Butterfly Conservation Trust, a time to celebrate some of our most beautiful flying insects. The National Trust,Wales' largest landowner looks after some of our most important habitats and is working hard to protect them. So why not come and discover what’s flying this summerat Stackpole, Llanerchaeron or Craflwyn.
The Silver Studded Blue is confined to just six known sites in Wales including Hafod Garegog near Beddgelert. Their lifecycle is precariously balanced as Dave Smith, the National Trust’s area warden, explains
'Eggs are laid on stalks of heather close to an ants nest. The following spring they become caterpillars and are either picked up by the ants or crawl into the nearest nest where they are safe from predators - the ants collect protection money in the form of a sugary secretion. Each day the caterpillars crawl out to feed on tender shoots of heather. Eventually they pupate, sprout blue wings and fly off to find a mate'.
© NTPL
To maintain the perfect heathland habitat with a constant supply of new shoots of heather, the reserve is grazed by cattle and sheep and every few years a party of volunteers armed with loppers cuts back the gorse – 'no sheep is going to eat heather with prickly gorse in it'.
The Pearl Bordered Fritillary is another rare species which has declined by 77 per cent in the last 25 years. Changes in land management and probably a reduction in cattle grazing are thought to be the reason. Work being done by the National Trust at Cwm Soden in Ceredigion is reversing the trend. 'Violets are the favourite food of these butterflies – by limiting the build up of bracken both the flowers and the butterflies can thrive' said Paul Boland the property manager at Llanerchaeron.
Butterflies steal the show with their daytime displays but many moths are night time flyers and every bit as spectacular if you stay up to see them. They too are suffering a massive decline. To understand what’s going on the Butterfly Conservation Trust is running a Moths Count project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Veronica Shenston from the National Trust on Gower took part in a recent count organised in conjunction with the Glamorgan Moth Recording Group. 'This is a great stopping off place for newly arrived migrants but as it was a cold night there were few moths out and about. Nevertheless, by the morning we had recorded more than fifty species including Elephant Hawk Moth, Peach Blossom and Shoulder-striped Wainscot'.
Sabine Nouvet, the Ecology and Wildlife Monitoring Officer for the National Trust, is organising another count at Craflwyn on 17 July. “'Last year eight families came along to take part. It was amazing what we saw – bright coloured moths that looked as though they came from the tropics. Everyone is welcome to attend the event which starts at 9 pm. but be prepared for midges'.
' Species that we expect to see have wonderful names such as True Lover's Knot, Beautiful Snout and Coxcomb Prominent. If we’re really lucky we might see Ashworth’s Rustic or Weaver’s Wave both of which are found in north Wales but nowhere else in Britain.'
The naming of moths seems to have been the pastime of landed gentry with many references to servants such as the Rosy Footman, Common Footman and the Lackey!
Of all the flying insects Dragonflies must be the most spectacular with their bright colours and speed, some have amazing acceleration up to 38 mph covering distances of 85 miles in a day. In Wales there are thirty three species of breeding Dragonfly and Damselfly, their smaller relative, and more than twenty of these can be found at Bosherston Lakes in Pembrokeshire, part of the Stackpole estate.
Richard Ellis from the National Trust explained 'it’s the wide range of water habitats at Bosherston, a mix of stream-fed and spring-fed pools, which makes this a hot spot for dragonflies with a niche for most species. The Mere Pool Valley is a particularly good place to see a rich variety - on a rotational basis we clear out the vegetation so that there is always one pool in peak condition for each species'.
Butterflies, moths and dragonflies all enjoy fine weather – to see them at their best come along when it’s warm or sunny.
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