Friday 29 May 2020

Butterfly Bonanza?

The Large heath butterfly (Coenonympha tullia) used to be a common insect in the peat bogs around Manchester but, when these wet areas were drained (to increase agricultural land) and the peat was cut for fuel, they disappeared. Now, after a local extinction of more than 150 years, an attempt is being made to restore this creature to a site near Salford (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/29/large-heath-butterflies-return-to-manchester-after-150-years). The site has been modified to make it wetter and the mosses and other plants, on which the larvae depend, have been planted. Caterpillars from another UK location have been reared to the pupa stage and these putative butterflies allocated to small, protective 'tents ' on the site. The tents are checked on a regular basis and any insects that have emerged are liberated. It will be interesting to see whether this relatively simple procedure works.

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