Butterfly Conservation launch appeal to acquire important butterfly site

Cotswold site could become flagship Large Blue reserveMay 2012. Butterfly Conservation needs support to acquire a site that could become a flagship home for the Large Blue Butterfly, once extinct in the UK.

Rough Bank, as the reserve is known, lies in the heart of the Cotswolds - a landscape brought alive by the evocative writing of Laurie Lee. The reserve, a beautiful grassland hillside, teems with butterflies and wildflowers.

Large Blue
The Large Blue butterfly became extinct in the late 1970s but a long-running conservation programme has restored the butterfly to a handful of locations in southern England. Efforts to secure the Large Blue's future are focussed on two landscape areas - the Polden Hills in Somerset and the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire.

Butterfly Conservation hope Rough Bank reserve will support this magnificent butterfly once again, alongside the spectacular Adonis, Chalkhill, Small and Common Blues already thriving on-site.

Butterfly Conservation has launched an appeal to acquire Rough Bank. To help them secure the future of the Large Blue visit Just Giving.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/butterfly-appeal.html

Good year for dragonflies and damselflies

Spectacular display of downy emeralds

December 2011: This year has proved a bumper year for dragonflies and damselflies in the Cotswold Water Park (CWP) with record numbers of the park's rarest species and additional records of new arrivals.

In one of the most spectacular sights, more than 100 downy emerald dragonflies were seen emerging simultaneously at a lake near Somerford Keynes. This is all the more amazing considering this is a nationally scarce species and the focus of conservation action in the CWP.


Over half of the species of UK dragonfly and damselfly can be found at the park, often in extraordinarily high numbers. There are swarms of millions of tiny blue damselflies in May and June, often being buzzed by a larger hawker dragonfly, iridescent in the sunlight as it twists and turns upon its prey.

Some of the UK's most important dragonfly populations
The CWP supports a massive range of wildlife, ranging from waterbirds to bats and aquatic plants, and the dragonfly populations are amongst the most important in the UK.

As dragonflies are a clear indicator of habitat quality and climate, the monitoring of the dragonfly population provides important clues regarding minor changes to climate and habitat quality, and will provide an important record for future generations.

Gareth Harris, CWP Trust's biodiversity manager, says: ‘Four years of detailed survey by some expert surveyors have produced fantastic results and some surprising results. New breeding sites for nationally scarce species such as downy emerald have been located, including the exciting discovery of the mass emergence in spring 2011.'

Steve Prentice of the British Dragonfly Society, says: ‘Working with the Cotswold Water Park Trust will make a significant contribution to the new national atlas for dragonflies, ensuring that this major inland wetland is surveyed in detail to monitor the effects of increasing area of habitat creation and the impact of climate change.'

Claire Install, conservation officer at the British Dragonfly Society, said: ‘CWP is a great place to see dragonflies and damselflies. They are incredible to watch with their bright colours and aerobatic skills. By recording what they see people can contribute to something that will be useful for years to come.'

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/dragonflies-cotswolds.html