| Butterfly Conservation |  |
| 40 years of saving butterflies, moths and our environment |
| Butterfly Conservation | |
| 40 years of saving butterflies, moths and our environment |
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WORK PARTY REPORTS 2007/08
Over Railway Cutting - April 2008Spring madness combined with the enthuiasm of the Cambridge Conservation Officer Vince Lea, Trevor Grange and several others sparked an impromptu gathering of several volunteers for what we imagine really will be the final work party of the season.Trevor Grange had permission to access the works at Over railway cutting and adjacent mitigation area so we were able to assess the damage to the actual cutting and trackbed, the new bridge works and the greening up of the mitigation area. Seven of us (Trevor Grange, Vince Lea, Louise Bacon, Val Perrin, Andy & his son George from nearby Over village and Hilary Conlan) shovelled railway ballast that had been moved up to the mitigation area by the contractors for the guided busway. We wheelbarrowed this and spread it out on the south-facing side of the 'banana barrows' to make a kind of free-draining basking area for insects. The main path through the site is made up of the old ballast from the trackbed and hopefully will act as a substitute trackbed. Many of the hydroseeded barrows and bank are showing a range of growing wildlflower plants now (not yet in flower of course) and the clumps of plants transplanted from the trackbed last autumn seem to be bedding in on the mounds and growing. Trevor has got the contractors to plant clumps of native species shrubs between the barrows to act as windbreaks and the contractors have also put in a pond at the southern end. It was also encouraging that the grassland mix had done well, but not become excessively lush, with sorrel and birdsfoot trefoil particularly notable. Common Blue & Small Copper should, therefore, also benefit. All in all, he is fairly optimistic about the future - let's hope the butterflies (especially the Grizzled Skippers) appreciate all the work that has been done and find it a desirable residence now ! This year will of course be a crucial one for survival of the butterfly as the trackbed is now gone and quite a big chunk has been gouged from the area worked on on the south side of the track by previous branch work parties to accommodate the service road / cycle and footpath beside the guided busway itself. We lunched in a light hail shower (Vince and Louise again had an immaculate lunch with hardboiled eggs and soup - they always do these things well - see the photo on the Brampton Wood report!)
Langdon EWT Reserve - March 2008Despite some confusion at the start - owing to the horrendous wet weather - that meant we were down on numbers, the final (well not quite as it turned out!) work party of the 2007/08 season took place at Langdon Lake & Meadows Reserve in Essex on Sunday 16th March.
This work is part of a newly established management plan, which it is hoped will extend the area of creeping cinquefoil (Potentilla repens), the foodplant for the caterpillar of the Grizzled Skipper, which is a new priority species recently added to the Biodiversity Action Plan.
It was all hands on rakes after a soggy lunch break to remove the cuttings and transfer them over the fence line.
At 4pm the group retired to the warmth of the visitor centre for a well-earned cup of tea! Many thanks to ALL involved. Fleam Dyke - March 2008A total of 18 people turned up for the Branch’s second ‘Day of Action’ in celebration of Butterfly Conservation’s 40th birthday as we joined forces with the Friends of the Roman Road & Fleam Dyke.
Like last weekend’s meeting at Orwell, this was the Branch's first visit to Fleam Dyke - with the aim of conserving and improving the habitat for a relatively new but small colony of Chalkhill Blues, amongst other more common butterflies which are present along the Dyke. With no public parking near to the work area, we all met up down Stonebridge Lane in Fulbourn and transferred people and tools into two large vans. We were soon at the private parking site right by the side of the (very noisy) A11, having admired upwards of a dozen March hares in the nearby fields. Iain Webb, project officer with the local Wildlife Trust (BCNP) decided to have 3 brushcutters working on an area just to the NW of the A11 dual carriageway while the rest of us trooped over the footbridge and started work on the section immediately to the south-east. Three more brushcutters soon started making an impact on the north-east side of the dyke while others cut and removed extensive areas of Elder scrub. A couple of hours later, we had broken the back of what needed to be done and enjoyed a leisurely 30 minute lunch break, nicely sheltered from a cool SW breeze and with the odd burst of welcome sunshine. Following refreshments, it was only an hour or so’s work to rake off the brushcutter’s brash to the base of the ditch and we were packing up by 2:30pm. Weather wise we were very lucky – no sooner had we got back to the Fulbourn meeting place, than the forecast rain arrived – car drivers congratulating themselves on their fortuitous timing but we did feel a little guilty as we drove past Annette making her way back home to Cambridge on her bicycle as the heavens opened! What a magnificent turn-out – many thanks to ALL involved. Orwell Clunch Pit - February 2008It was overcast but warm, in marked contrast to the sub-zero conditions prevailing the previous Sunday at Brampton, as we met in the village car park at Orwell, tucked away in a quiet corner of the Cambridgeshire countryside.For several of us, including the ‘Branch’, it was our first visit to this relatively small but delightful chalk pit. Originally created through the excavation of ‘clunch’ – a hard chalky material, formerly used for construction but these days almost exclusively in the manufacture of cement - this area, which enjoys SSSI designation, is now used as a local amenity and has a claim to fame as being home to the rare Chalk Carpet moth. While Chalkhill Blues have been seen on the site in recent years, their status is unclear as is the case with the butterfly’s food plant – the Horseshoe Vetch.
After an initial scout around, Vince soon directed the assembled crew; 4 brushcutters set to work on various slopes to remove coarse grass and bramble as others raked off the trimmings to a nearby bonfire.
To complete the picture, Val Perrin, the County Recorder, accompanied Tony Roberts and Jane Grimes around the site to establish the route for a new transect; future monitoring of the site will be crucial in establishing whether any of the conservation work is actually having the desired effect. With such a good turnout and many hands making light work, we achieved our objectives by early afternoon – an excellent and very enjoyable day’s work was had by all. Let’s hope that the Chalkhill Blues appreciate it too.
Click here to find out more about Orwell Clunch Pit. Brampton Wood - February 2008Volunteer warden George greeted us all as we arrived on a very crisp sunny morning at the Branch's second recent visit to Brampton Wood, one of Cambridgeshire's most important Black Hairstreak (BH) sites. We were particularly pleased to welcome two new volunteers along for the day.
Given the good turnout, it was quickly decided to split the group in half and Roger, who has made it a lifetime's work studying the wood's butterflies, led us to two of the five BH monitoring sites where timed counts are made during the short flight season. Given that these butterflies overwinter as eggs laid on Blackthorn stems during the previous summer, it is obviously important that in our conservation efforts, we do not destroy the very thing we are trying to preserve by chopping down Blackthorn on which precious BH eggs may lie. So all existing Blackthorn is laid low by the layering technique which rejuvenates old shrubs and lets light once again into the glades where these elusive insects fly.
George and his chain-saw made short work of unwanted heaps of brash while others using bow-saws and loppers, cleared the ground and dragged the brash away. We made good progress at both sites and, with the work completed by early afternoon, we were able to visit the area where we had worked on our previous visit. There was an almost an audible sigh of relief as we saw that all of the layered Blackthorn was producing new vertical shoots from their horizontal boughs, even the tree on which one of the volunteers had tried his hand for the first time! This monitoring site (No. 3) also had it's highest ever count last year, bucking the trend of most other colonies which were just above their average figures. It was good to see that a relatively small band of volunteers really can make an impact on an area as big as Brampton Wood and we have fingers crossed that the 2008 flight season will be better than last year. Walton-on-the-Naze - January 2008Attendance (16 in total):Zoe Ringwood (Project Co-ordinator) & Mickey Andrews, Martin Heywood, Alan Roscoe + 3 Writtle College students (Aidan Barty, Megan Cox and Felicity Moy), Richard Bigg, Kathryn Grumball, John Dawson, Val Perrin, Vince Lea, Louise Bacon, Tony Moverley, Carl & Val Blamire. This was to be our final planned session to contribute to the Red Data book rarity Fisher’s Estuarine Moth, which nationally is almost confined to Essex. Zoe Ringwood has spent several years researching the requirements of the species in relation to the threat posed by sea-level rise, as its sole foodplant and habitat in the UK are in coastal grasslands that are already being lost to this process. We first planted Hog’s Fennel at a mitigation site above the danger height in 2004, and it was good to hear that these plants were now supporting an introduced population of the moth. So by 2008 we knew the drill, and arrived at a familiar-looking environment - a farmer's field very close to the Essex coast, but just a few metres above the surrounding grazing marshes. Although the immediate surroundings are not terribly inspiring, the coastal views were excellent, and we were treated to the calls of waders and a flight display by a Barn Owl at the close of the day. There are four main aspects to planting Hog’s Fennel, and the group has worked out that the best approach is for individuals to specialise in one aspect for a good period of time, getting into a rhythm and doing a substantial amount of repetitive work to achieve optimal results for the team as a whole. The first requirement is to get the plants from the nearest road access to the worksite – not inconsiderable as the 2000+ plants occupy quite a large amount of a light van. Micky did sterling work in the 4X4 truck getting from the lane to the field, and the farmer got most of his ploughing done for him at the same time! We then have to lay out the plants in rows about 1m apart, with 1m between plants. Although this sounds straightforward on paper, it is quickly apparent that none of our fields are quite as flat and square as a piece of paper, so considerable judgement is required to ensure the plants don’t end up spread out too much or get too close together. Some plants were already laid out from earlier in the week when Zoe had a session with the Writtle College team, so the third operation could also start straight away – preparing the planting holes. We use specially made spades with square adaptations to allow a cube of soil to be extracted in one go. This is the same size as the plant pots – very cunning! Driving the spades into the heavy Essex clay is probably the most physically demanding part of the job, so it is good that most people swap jobs from time to time where necessary. Once the holes are made, the final job is to carefully plant the pot-grown Hog’s Fennel and wish each one luck. Past experience has shown survival rates around 70-80 % which is pretty encouraging. Devil's Dyke - December 2007
The area targetted this time was just past the pines, and the grassland here is in pretty good condition except for a thicket of birch which has been trying to establish itself downwind of the mature birches growing along the jockey club trackway.
We cleared a substantial amount of trees and scrub from the southern bank of the dyke, letting more sunlight fall on the important main grassy south-west facing slope.The birch scrub was also cut back on the main bank of the dyke, save for one or two ‘islands’ of scrub left as roosting areas for the Dingy Skippers that inhabit this section. Given the poor weather conditions and the good state of the main area of grassland, we chose not to strim the main area of bank away from the birch regeneration area. The top of the Dyke was cleared of grass, as this is the key breeding area for many butterflies, being particularly warm and sunny (in summer – not on this day!).
Thrift Wood - November 2007The second work party saw 7 people gather at Thrift Wood, near the village of Bicknacre, a few miles SE of Chelmsford in Essex. We are normally blessed with sunshine on these monthly events and despite earlier forecasts of rain, enjoyed dry conditions throughout the day; the rain happily holding off until we were all safely on our travels home.Attendance: Vince Lea (Conservation Officer) George Fletcher (Voluntary Warden) BC Volunteers: Richard Bigg, Louise Bacon, Kathryn Grumball, John Dawson & Tony Moverley. Under guidance from the reserve warden, George Fletcher, a single brushcutter made quick work of removing some bramble and hornbeam saplings from the glade area. All bar one of us therefore were tasked with hand coppicing an area of mainly hornbeam, extending the border of the main glade and adding yet another ‘scallop’ to the areas created on our previous visits. The lower thicker wood was cut into 8ft lengths and retained for a cord (a volume of wood totalling 128 cubic feet and usually a stack measuring 8’ by 4’ by 4’ typically used for drying and seasoning firewood). The rest of the brash was dragged over to a bonfire; most welcome particularly for keeping warm during our lunch break!
Kathryn took the opportunity of getting to grips with handling a brushcutter for the first time and now the Branch has a total of 8 volunteers willing and able use these power tools, adding flexibility for future work parties.
Much of the conservation work at Thrift Wood is aimed at re-establishing a coppicing regime which provides the ideal habitat for the Heath Fritillary caterpillar’s food plant, Common Cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense) which thrives in the leaf mould rich open ground of a fresh coppice area. To this end, we were all delighted to see masses of the plant growing well under the stools we had coppiced last October.
Rather than all of us hanging around the fire until it had died right down, George volunteered to return later that evening to check everything was in order. So after pulling back the leaf litter from around the fire to minimise any potential flare-ups, we gathered up the tools and made our way home after an excellent and enjoyable day’s work. Looking back, we had managed to clear quite an impressive area - let’s hope that cow-wheat and Heath Fritillaries continue to thrive for years to come in this lovely woodland setting. Devil's Dyke - October 2007The first conservation work party of the 2007/08 season took place at Devil's Dyke, near Newmarket on Sunday 21st October 2007.Attendance: Vince Lea (Conservation Officer) BC volunteers: Louise Bacon, John Dawson, Kathryn Grumball, Ian Barton, Kathleen Rosewarne, John & Joyce Baldwin, & Tony Moverley. A good turnout of 9 people (including two new volunteers) met up on a gloriously crisp and sunny morning at what is one of the best sites in the whole country for Chalkhill Blues. It is without doubt a huge success story for the Branch which is proud to have been so instrumental in the management of this superb site.
Working on a stretch relatively close to the car park, four people soon got the power brush cutters started up; 2 with nylon for strimming grass and 2 with blades for removing some of the more woody growth. Others put the Branch's hand tools (including several new bow saws) to work on the many saplings and scrubby areas which had grown up on the site since it was last mown. Sharon Hearle, the East of England Regional Development Officer for Butterfly Conservation and the transect walker on this stretch of the Dyke, stopped by late morning. It was interesting to hear that her peak count of Chalkhill Blue's at about 900 this year was around 25% down on 2006. However, this was placed into perspective when we heard that the Chalkhill Blue colony at Therfield Heath (over in neighbouring Herts) had suffered a quite dramatic collapse in recorded numbers; initially thought to be caused by the poor weather but Sharon's experience at the Devil's Dyke suggests that other factors might be at work, including the possibility of difficulties associated with Therfield Heath's sheep grazing regime. Our efforts were helped during the day with the arrival of several members of the Cambridge Conservation Volunteers, who helped us rake off in the afternoon sunshine. We were done and dusted by 3:30pm and many thanks to all who helped. As we gathered up the tools, a Small Tortoiseshell flew over, and several members mentioned seeing Red Admirals during the day, and one person saw a probable female Common Blue.
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