CONSERVATION

• Conservation Work parties
• Hairstreak Project
• Regional Action Plan
• Priority Butterflies

Conservation Work Parties

Everyone Welcome - not just Branch members!

The Branch holds monthly work parties throughout the autumn, winter (and sometimes spring) months at various locations throughout the two counties. Details of the 2011/12 schedule are shown below and on our Events page.

• Sunday 9th October 2011 - Devil's Dyke, near Newmarket
• Sunday 6th November 2011 - Dodds Grove, near Southend-on-Sea
• Sunday 20th November 2011 - Brampton Wood, near Huntingdon
• Sunday 4th December 2011 - Foulden Common, in the Norfolk Brecks
• Sunday 22nd January 2012 - Thrift Wood, near Chelmsford
• Sunday 19th February 2012 - Langdon Hills, near Basildon
• Sunday 19th March 2012 - Devil's Dyke, near Newmarket

Conservation work parties are an important way that volunteers can help in a practical way to help conserve butterfly and moth habitats. So please do consider coming along and giving a helping hand. A warm welcome is assured.
We particularly welcome first-time volunteers at these events, whether branch members or not. So if you've never been to a BC work party before, come along and find out how much fun it can be! Old hands are of course welcome as well. If you live in the vicinity of any of these areas and know somewhere we could put up a poster to attract volunteers, please contact .
Most work parties start at 10am and are normally finished by 3pm (but please come along even if you can only spare an hour or so). Members are advised to contact the person detailed on the Events page, especially in the case of bad weather and with regard to arranging lifts with other members. . . and don't forget to bring along a packed lunch and a flask of tea/coffee!

Volunteers should note that the Branch is willing to pay any reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred for travel to and from conservation work parties and certain other events.

• Motor vehicle (including motor bike) is paid at 23p/mile
• Bicycle at 10p/mile
• Public transport at actual cost (with supporting receipts)

Click here to download an expenses claim form.

Contact the Treasurer Tony Moverley (details on the Committee page) for any further information reagrding expenses.

Click here to see the latest Work Party reports.

Hairstreak Project

The Branch was awarded an 'Awards for All' lottery grant of just under £3,000 in 2005 to fund a Hairstreak Project. This has enabled us to :

• Conduct preliminary Black Hairstreak egg searches at two sites during the early part of 2006
  Click here to download the RESEARCH REPORT detailing all this work.
• Hold several field trips to various sites to see adults during their flight period
• Acquire tools to enable further conservation measures to be taken
• Produce an information leaflet highlighting the plight of Hairstreaks in the region

Click on the picture to download a copy of the Hairstreak leaflet. WARNING! This is a very large file (1.8MB, PDF file), so you may want to "right-click", select "Save Target As ..." and save it to your local disk.

If you do not have a PDF file reader, then click this image for a free download:

Regional Action Plan (RAP)

Based upon national criteria & definitions, this Butterfly Conservation document sets out conservation actions & targets for butterflies, moths & their habitats in the Anglia region of England (Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk) for the period 2000 - 2010. The intent is to arrest the decline of all butterfly & moth species with special emphasis on the 6 high & 6 medium priority (plus two thought to be non-breeding) species of butterfly & the 34 high & 63 medium priority species of macro-moths. This plan aims:

• To seek opportunities to extend the breeding areas and their connectivity for the high & medium priority species; in essence, to build larger blocks of appropriately managed landscape.
• Where ecological knowledge is inadequate for a species then undertake research to rectify this & publish the findings.
• To seek collaboration with partners & to provide realistic management advice to land managers & owners.
• Where appropriate, consider possible acquisition of sites as nature reserves or, alternatively, set up management agreements with the present land owners.
• Where there is no prospect of recolonisation within their former range then to consider re-establishment of key species.
• Through education & publicity to increase the public awareness of the plight of lepidoptera & their habitats & the work of Butterfly Conservation.

Click here to download a copy of the 155 page RAP. WARNING! This is a very large file (1.6MB, PDF file), so you may want to "right-click", select "Save Target As ..." and save it to your local disk.

If you do not have a PDF file reader, then click this image for a free download:

Priority Butterflies

The Regional Action Plan (RAP) identifies 6 high priority butterflies:

• Dingy Skipper
• Grizzled Skipper (colony at Over Railway Cutting and also S of Basildon)
• Swallowtail
• Black Hairstreak (possibly breeding at only a few sites in Cambridgeshire)
• Silver-studded Blue
• Heath Fritillary (known at 4 sites, including a colony at Thrift Wood, SE of Chelmsford)

The 6 medium priority butterflies identified are:

• White-letter Hairstreak
• Brown Argus
• Chalkhill Blue
• White Admiral
• Dark Green Fritillary
• Marbled White

The RAP additionally identifies 2 medium priority species probably no longer breeding in the region:

• Small Blue
• Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary