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Rare butterfly sets up home
A RARE breed of butterfly has set up home in Oxford.
Conservation volunteers helped to plant special butterfly-attracting hedges in Long Close, Wood Farm, in September 2006, hoping to attract the Brown Hairstreak Butterflies and this year a colony had been found.
David Redhead, of the Upper Thames branch of Butterfly Conservation, who worked on the project, visited the site last week and discovered eggs from the species. previously there was only one other colony in Oxfordshire, found close to the Buckinghamshire boundary.
A recent report by Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology found overall butterfly numbers had dropped to a 25-year low.
Mr Redhead said: "I am very excited by the discovery of the Brown Hairstreak eggs at the site.
"When the planting started, they were originally going to only plant hawthorn. But we knew this type of butterfly lived nearby and so encouraged residents to plant blackthorn instead.
"It's the only type of plant the Brown Hairstreak lives on and by planting these hedges it allowed us to expand the butterfly's habitat allowing it to establish itself in the area."
Mr Redhead added: "There has been a massive decline in butterflies anyway caused by the loss of habitats in the countryside, but the poor weather definitely had an effect.
"While some species are able to cope with these types of weather conditions in winter months, having them in summer affected the butterflies at a time in their development when they were unable to deal with it.
"This (Long Close) seems to be a fairly strong stable population that goes against the national trend we are seeing."
Mr Redhead praised the work of the local residents in creating the habitat two years ago and said he wants to encourage other communities to follow in their footsteps.
He said: "A lot of people, especially young people, came down and got involved with the project and I'm so pleased it has worked.
"I would like to encourage people who are thinking of planting hedges like this to think about what they are planting and how.
The planting project in 2006 was organised by Community Service Volunteers (CSV), a national organisation that creates opportunities for people to get involved in community projects like this.
Mike Williams, from CSV Action Earth, said: "I am really pleased that the hard work of the volunteers has directly benefited this rare species.
"It just goes to show the long-term impact of a single day of volunteering and I hope this encourages more people to volunteer to improve their local environment."
9:56am Tuesday 13th May 2008
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