Visitor Pressure on Sites

[Piers]

A grim report on the Hants BC Website:

"Bentley Wood /Eastern Clearing A beautiful morning greeted me in this now woeful site, its so trampled down now in places, which now has very few Pearl- or Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries to count compared with a few seasons ago"

I must confess that I hope beyond hope that the Duke of Burgundy doesn't have a second brood at Noar Hill this year, that way the site will be saved the pounding that it received in the wake of the reports. Sadly the state of the area bore testament to the fact that many visitors showed absolutely no respect for the site whatsoever, their only intention being to tick the butterfly off a list.

As the interest in British butterflies grows (which is of course a good thing), as well as an increase in the sport of 'butterfly twitching', what measures do members think could be put in place to protect from visitors the habitats that support the very species that people come to see..?

Felix.

[Trev Sawyer]

Unfortunately, short of fencing off sections or making certain areas no-go areas, there seems little which can be done except to inform people of the damage this can cause to foodplants etc... Hopefully, flagging the practice up on popular butterfly websites (especially this one ), will help to spread the word. Many people browse this site, even if they don't post on it. I'm sure the unsuspecting culprits who flatten plants during their (understandable) excitement to get a photo, would not knowingly damage them and may be a little more careful if they were aware of the problem. All to often, the damage is only apparent when the visitors have left.

Trev

[Piers]

Perhaps it will come to the point where certain 'honey pots' (or perhaps specific areas of such sites) will have to be fenced off for a season or two on a rotational basis. Alternatively breeding areas could be cordoned off at sensitive times of year...

Felix.

[Denise]

It's very sad to think that habitat is being lost through ignorance. Perhaps Pete should flag up the butterfly and country code of conduct (again) on the front page to make every visitor to this site aware of the potential problem that they may unwittingly cause.
Far be it from me to lecture, but BC might well put it on their heading of every regional page too.

I know it seems to us like common sense, but people can get 'caught up in the moment' and forget sometimes to be careful. I am very careful where I walk, but admit that I didn't give it a second thought when I knelt down to photograph a Grizzled Skipper until a thistle reminded me to LOOK!

Felix, I think that you may have an idea there, to section off certain areas in rotation if only to allow the food plants to re-grow and restore habitat and therefore benefit both butterfly and observer.

Denise

[eccles]

Very good points. It's worth mentioning though that some trampling encourages plant growth provided it is done in an orderly manner. At Hazelbury, for instance, there are several tracks through the common where the grass is lower. Bird's foot trefoil and horseshoe vetch seem to prefer these patches. The large tracks around the edges of the common are mowed to keep them that way but there are others that are the result of animals as well as humans passing. Butterflies nectaring along these tracks often provide better photo oppotunities because there is less clutter.
So perhaps that is a way forward; if there are sufficient planned tracks through the habitat of busy sites then there will be little need to trample through the undergrowth. In places like Bentley Wood, this would presumably have the added benefit of fewer ticks caught.

[Pete Eeles]

If there are sufficient planned tracks through the habitat of busy sites then there will be little need to trample through the undergrowth. In places like Bentley Wood, this would presumably have the added benefit of fewer ticks caught.

Bentley Wood does have such tracks (paths). Unfortunately, there is also a lot of trampling in between them where, I'm sure, someone has inadvertantly damaged the flora in order to get the photo they were after

Cheers,

- Pete

[eccles]

The park wardens should ban short lenses.

[Matsukaze]

Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard
Some do it with a bitter look
Some with a flattering word
The coward does it with a kiss
The brave man with a sword

Some kill their love when they are young
And some when they are old
Some strangle with the hands of lust
Some with the hands of gold
The kindest use a knife because
The dead so soon grow cold.


-- Oscar Wilde

[Pete Eeles]

I was impressed by this simple, but effective, sign:

http://www.phocus-on.co.uk/forum/downlo ... 4&t=1&f=10

Cheers,

- Pete

[Martin]

The only trouble with that sign is it makes it seem OK to tread on all the other flowers...

Nice to see you visiting phocus-on-wildlife Pete. They're such lovely, lovely people on there...it doesn't matter a hoot how good/bad you are at photography, ones experiences come first. Very refreshing

M.

[Leif]

I certainly hope Noar Hill does not get trampled, having visited for the first time last week, and seen what a nice site it is. I was despairing of finding any sites as good as those near Luton.

Not so long ago I was photographing dragonflies near a lake, taking care to walk only on paths, and already flattened vegetation, to find a ginger bearded chap trampling anything in his desire to photograph grass snakes. I could see why there were so many flattened plants. He seemed pleasant, but talked of photographing all 4 species of snake that day at widespread sites. I can't say I approve of competitive twitching. Fortunately I don't think it was a sensitive site.

[eccles]

Fortunately I don't think it was a sensitive site.

Not any more....

[Jack Harrison]

A grim report on the Hants BC Website:

"Bentley Wood /Eastern Clearing A beautiful morning greeted me in this now woeful site, its so trampled down now in places, which now has very few Pearl- or Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries to count compared with a few seasons ago"

Trampling LOOKS destructive, but could we have the evidence that it really is all that harmful? Trampled vegetation seems to recover very quickly and the dearth of PB and SPB Frits might have little to do with trampling; they are declining generally in the south. Don't forget that in some habitats , trampling by cattle is a positive benefit as it creates a mosaic of vegetation of varying heights and micro-climates.

I cite the case of a local meadow here in South Cambridgeshire where Marbled Whites first appeared in 2007 and numbers have increased this season. There is (apparently) no knapweed here, the favourite nectar plant, and in this particular meadow, the Marbled Whites use White Clover. This grows almost exclusively along the informal well-trampled footpaths.

Certainly I am not condoning widespread trampling and do everything I can to avoid doing so myself. But let's not have a witch hunt without firm evidence.

Jack