www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Anyone got experience of planting wild Rock Rose with the intention of establishing Northern Brown Argus to a new site.

The three nearest breeding sites for the insect are all 3-4 km away to the north,south and west.

If any similar project has been successful I would be most interested,as well as encouraged !

Are you intending to plant and then wait for northern brown argus to move into the site, or are you planning an actual introduction?

Guy

My intention is to get rockrose well established across the estate and wait for NBA to discover the plants .

Your best bet is probably to have a chat with your local BC branch; butterflies are fussy about what size/aspect/level of shading the plants they lay their eggs on have, and hopefully they would know what sort of conditions the butterfly uses rock-rose locally.

Generally speaking though, rock-rose is one of those plants that will grow under many conditions but that does best in nutrient-poor soils where it does not get swamped by the more vigorous and faster growing plants. The butterflies may actually prefer using rock-rose in these conditions as the leaves are closer to the ground and are heated up more when the sun shines - perhaps this is the reason why I have never heard of either Brown Argus species making use of Helianthemum cultivars in gardens.

Thanks,Have researched via local BC forum and had good input from IAC
Trying to pick spots which will give any straying egg laden females plenty of choice re aspect and height of surrounding sward.
Going for numerous scattered groups of 2-3 plants all over the estate,rather than large blocks.
My view is the longer the NBA take to find the site,the better established the plants should be.
So long as their is natural annual increase in the amount of rockrose ,I don't mind how long I have to wait.
Surely they will come calling some day !