Reintroduction of butterfly in England a 'success'

The reintroduction of a species of butterfly that went extinct in England nearly 50 years ago has been declared a success.

The chequered skipper was always scarce, but died out in 1976 with changes to woodland management being blamed.

In 2018, ecologists brought a donor population of the insects from Belgium to Fineshade Wood near Corby, Northamptonshire, in a bid to re-establish the species.

The Butterfly Conservation charity, which oversaw the project, said the results were "very exciting" and demonstrated how humans can restore natural environments.

The news is a welcome boost for the charity after it announced its worst-ever results in its annual Big Butterfly Count in September.

Up until the 1950s, the chequered skipper was still locally common in damp woods and fens in the East Midlands.

But a decline in coppicing and maintaining long narrow tracks or bridleways, as well as a rise in conifer plantations which did not suit the butterfly, led to the loss of the species in England.

When the chequered skippers were first reintroduced their location was kept secret.

Susannah O'Riordan from Butterfly Conservation said the project had been a "real experiment" but would now "inform future reintroductions and all kinds of conservation projects - for butterflies and beyond".

Fineshade Wood, which is part of the 200-sq-mile (520-sq-km) Rockingham Forest, was chosen to host the reintroduction due to its sunny habitat being favourable.

In total, 128 butterflies - 101 females and 27 males - were imported and five years of research has proven that the insects were breeding successfully.

Butterfly Conservation said more than 350 individual chequered skippers have been counted and numbers had increased year on year.

Dr Nigel Bourn, the charity's chief scientist, said: "This project shows us that restoring wildlife is possible, but only if we put in dedicated and sustained effort to tackle the reasons the species went extinct in the first place."

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