A conservation steering group has been set up to share knowledge and best practice about one of the UK’s rarest butterflies.
Essex & Suffolk Water has joined Essex Wildlife Trust, Butterfly Conservation and other partners, for the benefit of the Heath Fritillary Butterfly, one of the UK’s rarest butterfly species.
There are only four locations in south-east Essex where the butterfly is spotted, so the organisations are working together to enhance the areas and increase the butterfly population.
Ashley Pinnock, Conservation Specialist, at Essex & Suffolk Water, said: “At Oakwood Reservoir, we have already coppiced the land and planted more common cow-wheat seed into those areas, which is the larval foodplant for the butterfly, ready for spring.
“Having this group means the organisations can all share knowledge and information about the butterflies and do everything within our power, not only to protect the existing population, but hopefully see it increase over the years.
“The Heath Fritillary Butterfly is one of the UK’s rarest species, so we are incredibly lucky to have it in our part of Essex and we are doing everything we possibly can to make sure we protect and provide for it.”
Ruth Angrave, Nature Reserves Manager (South) for Essex Wildlife Trust, said: “We were thrilled to report the highest number of heath fritillary butterflies to date on our nature reserves this summer. These rare butterflies are a remarkable recovery story for conservation, and we’ve been supporting our Essex population for decades.
“It’s great to be working in partnership to aid the recovery of one of the UK’s rarest butterfly species – we know that working together with like-minded organisations means we can achieve more for wildlife.”