Butterflies head to Blackdown Hills

The conservation work hopes to attract the endangered Wood White

A wildlife scheme has seen up to 20 new plant species per square metre on parts of land on the Blackdown Hills which previously had none.

The scheme led by the Forestry Commission has involved clearing conifers to make more room for wildlife.

The work, funded by the National Lottery, should help to boost the butterfly population.

It is now on course to meet government targets of 95 per cent of all Sites of Special Scientific Interest in England to be in a favourable or recovering condition by 2010.

So far the Forestry Commission has achieved reached this standard in 98 per cent of its sites.

Gavin Saunders, project manager for the Neroche Scheme, said: "We had some of these sites that weren't in such good condition as they might be, they had a lot of conifer plantation around them which meant the wildlife didn't have as much space as it needed.

"Over the last three years we've been clearing a lot of the conifer and establishing grazing with cattle to try and improve conditions for wildlife."

The organisation has also been monitoring levels of biodiversity to measure the scheme's success.

"Those new grazed areas are becoming much more attractive for butterflies because they are beginning to fill up with wildflowers. The butterflies feed on the wildflowers so there is much room for them to spread."

Although the project is almost complete there are still concerns about the butterfly population.

"There's been the wrong sort of temperatures and weather at different times of the year so some butterfly species have been struggling anyway," said Gavin.

"We're in the situation where we've provided the space and the food plants that the butterflies need, so now it's a matter of sitting back to a certain extent and crossing our fingers and hoping that nature responds to what we've done."