The Vale Royal White-letter Hairstreak Project
A new initiative has been launched to safeguard the future of the white-letter hairstreak Satyrium w-album butterfly in Cheshire. The white-letter hairstreak relies upon elm trees as its main larval foodplant. Not surprising then that this once widespread but elusive butterfly has suffered a severe decline in both range and abundance since the onset of Dutch Elm disease in the 1970s. In recognition of its plight the species was added to the Cheshire region Biodiversity Action Plan in 1997 and has since managed to maintain discrete but healthy populations across the county.
The adult white-letter hairstreak spends the majority of its life high in the tree canopy where it feeds on honey-dew, only descending occasionally in search of bramble and thistle nectar. Its lifestyle means that the species is often overlooked by all but the most avid butterfly recorders and so there remains little information of its true distribution. Local butterfly enthusiasts believe however, that the species is under threat locally from diminished and fragmented habitat resources.
Cheshire Wildlife Trust have joined forces with Vale Royal Borough Council, Cheshire County Council and the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers as members of the Cheshire region Biodiversity Partnership to help secure the future of this species in the county. The Vale Royal White-letter Hairstreak Project will receive £22,330 funding from SITA Trust over the next three years, through the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme with 10% third party contributions provided by Vale Royal Borough Council and Butterfly Conservation. The project aims to increase the range and population of the white-letter hairstreak across Vale Royal by improving habitat at sites where the species currently occurs and link meta-populations by increasing the area of suitable habitat at additional strategic sites.
The Vale Royal area is particularly important lying near the most north-westerly limit of the white-letter hairstreak’s distribution. A good ecological network here will allow the butterfly to gradually move northwards in response to climate change. The project’s focus will be Vale Royal Borough Council’s Leftwich Meadows, which currently hosts one of Cheshire's most significant white-letter hairstreak populations. The butterfly has also been recorded recently at nearby Marbury Country Park and further a field near Flaxmere. These three sites are joined by a further five including Marshall’s Arm Local Nature Reserve and Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s Owley Wood where habitat improvements will be made to benefit the species over the next three years.
Over twenty volunteers helped plant 300 trees at the project’s official launch at Leftwich Meadows on 25th November 2006. BTCV with the help of local community and ‘Friends’ group volunteers will plant 3400 young wych elms and a further 66 standards in total across eight sites. White-letter hairstreak caterpillars often prefer wych elm to other elm species and a single tree can support an entire colony. Planting standards will provide instant breeding locations whilst the whip planting will boost habitat availability in the long term. The trees will be planted in sheltered locations along the edge of existing woodland and woodland glades but also to fill gaps in hedgerows. Woodland management will accompany the planting to make space for existing and planted elms and to develop essential bramble scrub feeding areas.
During the project the use of the Dutch Elm disease resistant, white-elm (U. laevis) will be researched. Following a report by Butterfly Conservation and a successful propagation trial underway in neighbouring Halton, seeds provided by
CEMAGREF, France
will be grown on at BTCV’s Norley nursery and planted at Leftwich Meadows during the project’s third year. The white-letter hairstreak population will be closely monitored to see how they react to this new food source that will hopefully provide a viable alternative to our dwindling native elms.
We hope that the project will encourage more people to record this and other butterflies and a number of events and training days will be organised with experts on hand to help. If you would like to get involved with recording butterflies or planting trees as part of this project please contact Charlotte Harris, Cheshire region BAP Coordinator on 01948 820728.
|
