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Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to English Nature for funding part of this project (both
through a Biodiversity Action Grant from Peterborough and through the local EN
team at Hereford and Worcester) and to Forest Enterprise for help with expenses
(through Assistance for Wildlife Studies). I also acknowledge some financial
support from the West Midlands Branch of Butterfly Conservation.
A huge thank-you to all the recorders who contributed their voluntary time and
effort and without those results this report would not have been possible. They
were John Brown, Trevor Bucknall, Caroline Bulman, Ruth Edwards, John Deakin,
Dean Fenton, Neil and Corinna Gregory, Dave Grundy, Colin Hill, Frank and Pat
Lancaster, Adrian Miles, Phil Rudlin, Sylvia Sheldon, Richard Southwell, John
and Miriam Tilt, Mike Williams, Rosemary Winnall and four members from the
Buckinghamshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation.
Special thanks are also due to Frank and Pat Lancaster, Phil Rudlin and Rosemary
Winnall for both helping me to plan this project and for their support on the
ground, to Matthew Oates for his advice, to Terry Higgins and Frank Lancaster
for supplying me with their transect data, to Jim Chance (Butterfly Conservation
(BC) West Midlands Branch Recorder) who supplied me with records from the BC
database which enabled me to target my recording and to Caroline Bulman, Tom
Brereton and Katherine Stewart (BC, Wareham) who responded to my numerous
requests for information on the Wyre Forest.
Caroline Bulman, Tim Dixon, Matthew Oates, Phil Rudlin and Mike Williams also
provided useful comments on an earlier draft of this report which have been
incorporated where possible.
Summary
A comparison of the 1997 and 2002 Pearl-bordered Fritillary timed count data
from the Wyre Forest initially presented a depressing picture. At only one site
does the Pearl-bordered Fritillary colony appear to have increased in size, at 9
sites they appear to be stable and at 24 sites they appear to have undergone
decline. These results cannot be attributable to the weather as there was fine
weather from mid March onwards in both years (suggesting comparable levels of
adult emergence) and the timed counts were carried out under similar weather
conditions. The majority of these sites (76%) currently only support small
colonies, 24% support medium sized colonies with no sites continuing to support
large colonies.
Nevertheless, the 2002 survey has identified 9 additional sites and areas which
are now important for the Pearl-bordered Fritillary with singletons being
recorded in four additional places. Colony size assessment suggests that six of
these additional colonies were small and three were of medium size.
One feature that many of the additional Pearl-bordered Fritillary sites
identified in 2002 share is that they contain an extensive area of clear-fell or
recently opened up area of land. As the extent of clear-fell planned for the FE
section of the Wyre Forest in the future is much reduced (due to the planned
reversion of the forest to broad-leaved woodland) and the level of coppicing may
also be lower here than originally envisaged (due to slow coppice re-growth),
the impact this will have on the Pearl-bordered Fritillary in the future needs
consideration. Some possible ways forward may be a) to increase the amount of
land in the coppice cycle b) to see whether open space can be maintained as
suitable breeding habitat by management such as rotational scarifying and
cutting.
Bugle was found to be the major nectar source utilised although adults were seen
feeding on seven other plant species including tormentil and bird's-foot
trefoil. Egg laying behaviour was only observed at three sites with two eggs
being located at one site. Interestingly, in 60% of cases where adults were
found, violets abundance was recorded as rare (in contrast to 37% of cases where
violet abundance was frequent or 3% of cases when they were abundant). This
result may reflect the time of year the recording were made and the fact that is
was difficult to look for butterflies and search for violets simultaneously.
Two transects continued to be recorded in the Wyre Forest during 2002 (Wyre
Forest East and Wyre Forest West). While there is no doubt that it is important
that these two transects continue, it is suggested that an additional ten sites
are monitored annually by timed counts. The initial sites proposed are the IMI
Compound, FE Pipeline, FE Longdon Orchard, FE clear-fell above the Experimental
Pond, FE Wimperhill Deer Lawn and Wildlife Corridor, FE Railway Line, NNR
Railway Line, NNR Withybed Wood, NNR Longdon Wood and one of the NNR coppice
coupes. Ideally this list should be reviewed annually (with any unsuitable sites
being removed and newly created areas of habitat included) so that it adapts to
changing circumstances.
Additional priority work for 2003 should ideally include a) violet assessment in
April on all key Pearl-bordered Fritillary sites (giving priority to medium
colonies) b) identification of Pearl-bordered Fritillary breeding areas and
types of habitat involved (e.g. deer lawns, meadows and pipelines etc.), c)
expansion of the FE experimental management programme and d) assessment of the
use of scallops by Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Further work on Pearl-bordered
Fritillary breeding sites (including violet assessment) in the Wyre Forest is
particularly important as this information could be used to 'guide' future
management as well as helping to determine whether the Forest of Feckenham area
of Worcestershire is in a suitable condition for a re-establishment.
It was disappointing to record no Argent & Sable or Drab Looper Moths as part of
the 2002 survey. Nevertheless a number of other interesting moth species were
recorded. These included Small Purple-barred (a species which is rare in
Shropshire and in Worcestershire was last recorded in the Wyre in 1991), Marbled
White-spot (the Wyre Forest being a well known site for this uncommon species)
and Schiffermuellerina grandis at Ribbesford Woods. This last species feeds on
dead wood, is classified as a pRDB1 species and is currently only known from
Somerset and south Devon.
If you would like to read the full report of this project please contact Jenny
Joy on 01952 249325 or write to The Croft, Off Haygate Road, Wellington,
Telford, Shropshire, TF1 2BW.