Neil Hulme

[Neil Hulme]

Coppicing At Clapham

Many thanks to the wonderful Clapham Wood Coppice Group, who made excellent progress cutting more Hazel to benefit the Pearl-bordered Fritillary and other woodland wildlife at Church Copse. Today (22 November) we said goodbye to National Park Ranger Becka, who is moving to an equivalent post in Hampshire; she'll be sorely missed and we wish her every success on her new patch. The next meeting of the group will meet in Clapham Church car park at 10 am on Thursday 29 November. Any new faces will be enthusiastically welcomed.

[David M]

Epic stuff, Neil. You have already done plenty and it isn't even December yet!

Here's hoping we avoid the wind and rain this winter which will allow you and your groups of volunteers to get a great deal done to consolidate on last year's fine effort.

[PhilBJohnson]

Hello Neil,
Sorry, I have not spent the time to read all of your diary.
Coppice
I was told that low Blackthorn Scrub, was most preferable, compared with mature trees for a Brown Hairstreak to lay eggs on.
I was told that young Alder Buckthorn was more desirable for a Brimstone Butterfly to lay eggs on, compared with an older, maturer tree.
Willow Coppice
I have seen management ideas, from one years growth to 12 years growth.
To encourage the Purple Emperor, please can you advise (with your knowledge of “Knepp”) a best practice or good practice coppice rotation (which might mean, treating different areas, differently for diversity sake, avoiding most (or any) overwintering larva.
If you have referred to this already, please remind me of the page number (or numbers).
With Butterfly Conservation in mind, I understand that you might answer with regard to existing United Kingdom laws that protect this species and new laws that might help it more, in the future.
Kind Regards.

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, David. We've made plenty of progress, but as always there's much more to do. The very nature of coppicing means that you're never finished!

Hi Philip.

Blackthorn: I've found that the best management to suit Brown Hairstreak is to aggressively cut areas of scrub back to ground level on a three or four year cycle. It's impossible to avoid losses of eggs, but this system soon renders the entire Prunus stock on a site highly suitable for breeding. The losses incurred by cutting in this manner are vastly outweighed by the advantages, and from my experience the Brown Hairstreak population responds by increasing very significantly. Obviously, you can't apply this to hedgerows, which should be trimmed on a similar rotation. Dave Cook and I have negotiated the cyclical mowing of the suckers at the base of hedgerows to a similar pattern across much of mid Sussex, which greatly increases the amount of hedgerow breeding habitat.

Buckthorn: A short rotation as above also suits the Brimstone, with the added advantage that winter cuts don't impact the early stages (the species being asleep in the adult stage).

Sallow: Coppicing or pollarding are both unhelpful and probably detrimental to the Purple Emperor. Sallows are best left alone, even when they collapse, as they just shoot straight back up again!

Protective legislation: Many butterfly species are unfortunately afforded an inappropriately low level of legal protection, particularly when compared to some other faunal groups. While the restrained collecting of Purple Emperors is unlikely to have much effect on populations, the same cannot be said of e.g. Duke of Burgundy, particularly where colonies are small and vulnerable. The legislation is outdated and based on the historical status of some species. This is my personal view, rather than that of any organisation.

BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Saving Snakes

We may have been low in number, but the small team that worked so hard on our Park Corner Heath reserve on Sunday (2 December) achieved a huge amount. Many thanks to Paul Day, Jonathan Crawford and Gary Norman for their efforts. We cleared the majority of saplings and small trees growing over the area favoured by our rich reptile fauna, to reduce the increasing level of shade which would eventually cool the ground and make it less suitable. However, we left sufficient scrub and blankets of collapsed Bracken to afford them refuge when they become active in the spring.

A tour of both reserves revealed that violets and other important larval foodplants, and nectar sources for adult butterflies, are appearing in abundance across most of the recently created habitat.

[Neil Hulme]

A27 Arundel Bypass - Consultation Re-run

Please consider taking just a few seconds to add your name to this important petition https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/a27-arundel-bypass which objects to the environmentally damaging route currently being favoured by Highways England, based on a consultation so seriously flawed that it's having to be re-run. More cost-effective and less damaging options are available, saving woodlands, meadows and chalk streams from destruction, and saving a wealth of wildlife including Purple Emperors, White Admirals and Dormice.

[David M]

We may have been low in number, but the small team that worked so hard on our Park Corner Heath reserve on Sunday (2 December) achieved a huge amount. Many thanks to Paul Day, Jonathan Crawford and Gary Norman for their efforts. We cleared the majority of saplings and small trees growing over the area favoured by our rich reptile fauna, to reduce the increasing level of shade which would eventually cool the ground and make it less suitable. However, we left sufficient scrub and blankets of collapsed Bracken to afford them refuge when they become active in the spring.

A tour of both reserves revealed that violets and other important larval foodplants, and nectar sources for adult butterflies, are appearing in abundance across most of the recently created habitat.

Encouraging developments, Neil. That looks prime Fritillary habitat (and I have no doubt the snakes will find it to their liking too).

[Neil Hulme]

Artificial Rabbits

The battle to save the chalk-based race of Grayling in Sussex stepped up a gear today (4 December), as I joined Tim Squire of the South Downs National Park Authority and the SD Volunteer Ranger Service for a conservation work party at Deep Dean. Working around the edges of an area where ponies have recently been used to strip away the invasive Tor-grass, we mattocked out a large number of features to mimic the excavations of rabbits.

The spread of Tor-grass and reduction of bare ground and scree have been identified as prime candidates in explaining the drop in Grayling numbers over recent years, with both threats probably reflecting a reduction in rabbit numbers due to mortality caused by lagoviruses. The changes in habitat are sufficiently great that they can clearly be seen via remote images taken over the last ten years.

While taking a break from the hard labour I spotted two Peacock, a Red Admiral and a female Merlin.

Many thanks to all who became rabbits for the day.

[essexbuzzard]

I wish you every success with your efforts down at Deep Dean, Neil. Certainly the Graylings I see in Cornwall spend much time, especially in cloudy weather, perched among bare rock chippings. Perhaps both for warmth and camouflage.

[David M]

A27 Arundel Bypass - Consultation Re-run

Please consider taking just a few seconds to add your name to this important petition https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/a27-arundel-bypass which objects to the environmentally damaging route currently being favoured by Highways England, based on a consultation so seriously flawed that it's having to be re-run. More cost-effective and less damaging options are available, saving woodlands, meadows and chalk streams from destruction, and saving a wealth of wildlife including Purple Emperors, White Admirals and Dormice.

Petition duly signed, Neil. I wish you all the best with your efforts to force a rethink.

[Neil Hulme]

Birth Of A New Ride

Today (8 December) I joined a large and industrious group of Graffham Down Trust and visiting volunteers (about 30 in all) on the GDT reserves. We made excellent progress in opening up an old and very overgrown ride through an area of Hazel coppice. Work in this area will benefit a wide range of species, including Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Drab Looper moth and Hazel Dormouse.

[David M]

Looks like great habitat in the making, Neil.

Surprised you could light a fire though, given the incessant rain this last week or so.

I don't recall having read of this site before. Is it a Duke location as well as PBF?

[Neil Hulme]

Hi David. I usually find that there's an experienced pyromaniac within every group of volunteers; as you say, getting fires going isn't easy in the winter.

These reserves have been managed for wildlife for many years, but the area has improved in leaps and bounds in more recent times, due to a greatly invigorated Graffham Down Trust, and assistance from the South Downs National Park Authority and Butterfly Conservation. The area forms part of a wider key landscape, including Charlton Forest and the Heyshott Escarpment and Heyshott Down reserves. I believe that this landscape will soon develop into one of the best for butterflies and moths in the South East.

Duke of Burgundy has colonised naturally but currently exists in low numbers. I performed a very large-scale reintroduction of Pearl-bordered Fritillary earlier this year, as part of the BC Fritillaries for the Future project. Obviously, it's far too early to claim success, but the preparatory work and release of butterflies went very well. We'll know a lot more by next May. I suspect the area may support an exceptionally large colony of the rare Drab Looper moth next year, which was targeted by an additional BC project.

BWs, Neil

[David M]

Thanks, Neil. Useful and informative as ever. Good luck with your further work at this site (along with all the others).

[Neil Hulme]

Progress At Park Corner Heath

Many thanks to the fabulous Brighton Conservation Volunteers for their magnificent efforts on the BC Park Corner Heath reserve today (11 December). We continued working over the far, lower level slope where our own volunteers cleared small trees and scrub last Sunday, and started by burning up some large piles of brash. By the end of the day an area of almost 0.25 hectare had been completely cleared, creating a substantial area of breeding habitat for fritillaries and other species.

The combined efforts of BC and BCV volunteers over the last couple of winters have reclaimed a very extensive area of lowland heath from the encroaching scrub and I'm confident that the butterflies and moths will show their appreciation.

[David M]

Nice to see once again the hard work that goes into preparing the habitat which allows you to take so many pristine images of the butterflies during their respective flight seasons, Neil.

Here's hoping the recent storms didn't do too much damage round your way.

[PhilBJohnson]

Hello Mr Hulme, (Happy fourth day of Christmas).
Have you seen anything which might be of importance to Butterfly Conservation with reference to the life cycle of a "Common Dog Violet" (which was also Latin named).
How were they different from Spring "bulbed" flowers such as bluebells and daffodils with reference to them being grown under deciduous woodland (flora under light blocking summer trees).
#WoodlandTrust
The importance to Butterfly Conservation (in me), is to do with them having been a Primary food source for the larva of at least six of our native Fritillary species,

Kind Regards

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Philip. Fortunately, if Common Dog-violet is present on a site (it isn't universally present, as it doesn't like some soils/underlying geology) it usually flushes after any woodland, scrub or bracken clearance. The seeds can lie dormant for quite a while, so once the shade is removed they'll usually germinate soon after. Violet abundance can increase rapidly, as the numerous seeds are catapulted away from the host plant by a three-chambered pod. The seeds are often distributed further by ants.

The key to success in keeping a population of e.g. Pearl-bordered Fritillary going is to keep up the steady provision of newly cleared habitat, and hence a regular supply of pioneering violet growths, together with bare ground and leaf/bracken/woody litter.

BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, David. I have high hopes for PBF and SPBF in Sussex this year. I'm hoping there'll be good news to report by late April.
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Off The Mark

My 2019 butterfly season got off to a flying start today, with a Red Admiral seen in my central Worthing back garden. It was still there when I returned from my local, after a couple of mulled wines and a Mummers Play. Happy New Year to all.