Moorland Butterflies

[Paul]

Worried of Richmond writes.... my favorite, fairly remote moorland grotto has a tight colony of green hairstreaks and small coppers. It is also a grouse moor and so religiously burnt in cycles..... so... does this tight colony benefit from all the new bilberry growth, or get snuffed out with each burning?? I suppose the fact they're there suggests they get by.... but in such a small area, one good fire??????? - any thoughts?

[Pete Eeles]

Well - my thought is that this all depends on what a "cycle" means. If you mean that they burn a different area each year, then I think the colony will be OK. If they burn the whole lot, then not

Quite a few species benefit from rotational destruction of a fraction of their site, since it often allows overgrown areas to be cleared and "new life" to subsequently emerge. Coppicing would also fall into this category - even giving the Heath Fritillary the nicknake "The Woodman's Follower" as it moves into areas recently coppiced!

Cheers,

- Pete