Posts Tagged ‘fritillary’
Mosaic Habitat Management at Common Wood
Our summer workday at Common Wood had a focus on clearing bracken encroachment for the benefit of Marsh Fritillary butterflies. These threatened butterflies require areas of flower rich wet grassland, called rhos pastures, with a plentiful supply of devil’s-bit scabious, which is the food plant of their caterpillar. One of six fritillary species found on…
Read MoreMarsh Fritillary Butterflies: A Vulnerable Species with a Stronghold on Dartmoor
The marsh fritillary butterfly is distributed across Europe, but listed as ‘vulnerable’ throughout it’s range. In the UK, there are only six regional strongholds for this butterfly, Devon and Cornwall being one of them, which makes our Dartmoor populations so precious. The marsh fritillary makes its home in a range of damp grassland habitats, and…
Read MoreCommon Wood Butterfly Workday
DPA Conservation Volunteers don’t just work on our own land holdings. Twice a year, they visit Common Wood, clearing gorse and scrub to make sure light can get in to the sunny slope which provides a breeding ground for rare Pearl Bordered and Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary butterflies. The Fritillary family of butterflies are specialists,…
Read MoreMarvellous Meadows: Land Management at Pudsham
Pudsham Meadows is a marvellous example of flower rich grassland with associated scrub edges, recognized as a County Wildlife Site. The UK Biodiversity Action Plan identifies such fields as Priority Habitat due to their alarming decline over the past half-century. Now, they are highly localized, and Dartmoor alone accounts for about 6% of the national…
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