Butterfly Conservation in the Park

Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae) feeding on Birds Foot Trefoil (Courtesy John Carter)

On Wednesday last week Charlotte Harris and Brian Osborne, the Trustees’ Conservation representatives, hosted a visit by Bill Bacon and Richard Rogers from the East Midlands Branch of Butterfly Conservation.

We walked the site especially concentrating on our proposed location for a Butterfly Walk. There was a consensus on the suitability of our proposed route and we are now in discussions with Gedling Borough Council to implement this walk as soon as possible. We hope that this will provide some volunteering opportunities for interested Friends. 

Both Bill and Richard were impressed by the scope of the site for butterflies and other insect life and identified suitable areas for improvement. These suggestions will feed into the conservation work, which is being planned for late autumn and should present further volunteering opportunities.

Throughout our walk we identified the most suitable habitats for the Dingy Skipper and Grizzled Skipper - and we will indicate these for the Friends on the web site shortly, and hopefully you can assist us in monitoring these and other areas during the summer. Advice was also provided on suitable locations for supplementary planting of food plants and areas for woodland improvement.

You can find out more about the Dingy Skipper and Grizzled Skipper through the Butterfly Conservation website by clicking on this link http://butterfly-conservation.org/50-1101/dingy-skipper.html

We are delighted to announce that Bill has agreed to make a guest appearance at our Members Meeting on 6 June to give a short talk to us all (for more information about this Members Meeting, please see our Events Calendar).

Bill also sent the following mail after his visit:-

'I was delighted to meet you and Charlotte yesterday, and many thanks for the guided tour. I am most impressed with your approach and feel very relieved regarding your plans, and as I understand it 'The Friends' as a whole, interest in maintaining the biodiversity of Gedling Park. I feel much relieved by your approach.'

This is good news for the Friends as it shows that we are proceeding in the right direction.

Altogether it was a successful and constructive visit and our thanks and appreciation to Bill and Richard for their time.

Yours,

Brian Osborne, FGCP Trustee and Wildlife Specialist.