Marsh Fritillary Butterfly Habitat Restoration

The Pitch

Problem statement

The marsh fritillary is one of the UK’s most threatened butterfly species, affected by habitat loss and fragmentation. It was formerly common in the area around Stithians Lake but due to changes in land use the species has now become rare. The need to protect remaining habitat and restore former areas of habitat is becoming increasingly urgent to prevent it from becoming locally extinct. We are working with local landowners and volunteers to restore and manage areas of land by clearing overgrown willow and by planting more of the sole larval food plant (devil's bit scabious) that we grow in our nursery from locally sourced seed.

Solution

Working with our amazing volunteers we have cleared around 1.5 acres of land at Trelusback Farm, Penhalvean where a small population of marsh fritillaries already exists. Clearing this area has created an area 4 times larger than currently exists and should allow the population to expand considerably. We now need to employ a contractor to dredge a silted up drainage ditch, remove some larger trees adjacent to the ditch and to roughly level up the area that has already been cleared. Our volunteers will then plant out the devil's bit scabious plants that we raised in our nursery, providing more habitat for the butterflies to colonise next year.

Why are we best placed to deliver?

We are the only organisation in the Stithians Lake area actively prioritising on the ground work to protect and restore habitat for the marsh fritillary butterfly. We work closely with the Cornwall Butterfly & Moth Society and researchers at the University of Exeter to discuss and decide on management decisions to improve the habitat. We also have a very dedicated group of local volunteers who care deeply about the local environment and commit their time to shaping and contributing to this initiative.

Focus Areas

Delivery plan

Budget breakdown

Beneficiaries

50 people

Expected impact

We have around 50 volunteers who will immediately realise the benefit of this funding through seeing the next stage of this project being fulfilled and then being able to complete the habitat restoration project by planting out devil's bit scabious. This patch of habitat will hopefully then be colonised by marsh fritillaries next year when they breed. There are also longer term impacts that we plan to achieve, through using the site to engage the public through walks, talks and events to raise awareness of marsh fritillaries in the area and to encourage people to get involved through volunteering for habitat management as well as monitoring and surveying. Furthermore we would also aim to use the site as a demonstration site where we take other landowners to show the work we have done and encourage them to join the project & work with us to restore & manage more areas for the benefit of the species, thereby building a network of habitat patches for the butterflies to use.

Track record

We are currently leading a water vole project, through this we are adopting a similar approach whereby we have restored an area of habitat and are releasing water voles in August this year. Similarly to the marsh fritillary project there are a series of walks, talks and events that are being run in conjunction with this and we have also liaised with other landowners in the area to monitor for non-native American mink, which is invasive and predates on water voles. Many of these landowners have proved to be incredibly support of the project and are hopeful that the water voles will colonise ponds and streams on their land or have offered to allow further releases there if needed.

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