www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Walking around one of my favourite Inclosures in the New Forest last winter I followed the sound of chainsaws until I came to a group of contractors felling some of the densely growing Silver Birch. I enquired about what they were doing and the response was "creating clearings for better butterfly habitat".

Well that's OK, I thought, there are large areas of dense Silver Birch in there and some clearings can only be a good thing. Looking at the clearings now they do hold some butterflies, Ringlets and Meadow Browns mostly, a few Large Skippers, a couple of Marbled Whites seen a few weeks back and the occasional SW Fritillary passing through, the largest clearing seems to be equally attractive to Dragonflies, some days there seem to be more Odos than Leps.


I don't know exactly which organisation has instigated the project, and if I did I'd ask them about how and if they intend to follow up the tree clearance. Normal gardening practice would be to wait a year and see what grows, this could be the plan here with a planting/sowing of larval food plants and nectar plants to follow, but somehow I doubt it.

The dominant flower so far this spring and summer has been Foxglove, there's some (currently very small) Brambles growing and a smattering of other unknown (to me) species and a fair bit of grass of different varieties.

There are some small areas of bare ground in the clearing from where machinery was used during the felling operation which would be ideal for seed sowing. Is there anything I can easily sow/plant to be of benefit to butterflies here or should I just leave well alone/wait and see?

Hi ayjay

I would of thought Its best left to its self. I believe the New Forest is a SSSI, you can't just go sowing your own seeds in their conservation project.


Regards Gary

You're probably right, and it's definitely the easiest option.

it does seem a shame though to have started a project which could be beneficial only to leave it half done.

Judging from my observations of another couple of projects nearby (both Forestry Commission and Natural England) that is exactly what will happen.

It is at least no worse than before and a couple of pleasant clearings have been created.

If only they (I don't know which "they") didn't thrash large portions of the vegetation at the path-sides every year there might be even more butterflies there.

The Forestry Commission's team of New Forest Keepers are responsible for the maintenance and improvement of wildlife habitats in the forest. You can contact them through their website at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/newforest They should be able to tell you exactly what is their plan and may be able to suggest how you could help, as a volunteer. As Gary wrote, the New Forest is an SSSI and must be respected as such.

Thanks Mike, it probably is a Forestry Commission project, (but there's another two or three organisations that could also be involved).

I'll send them an email and ask for some more details.