| |
news telegraph
Email this page to a friend Print this page as text only

 Home
 News home

Breaking news

Business news

Crossword Society

Factfiles

Law reports

Matt cartoon

Obituaries

Opinion

Picture galleries

Quiz

Text alerts

Weather

Weblogs

Week at a glance

Your view

menu spacer
About us

Contact us

Butterflies down by a third on farm land
By Ben Sheppard
(Filed: 02/03/2006)

Farmland butterflies have declined by 30 per cent in the last 10 years, a study carried out for the Government revealed yesterday.

The fall in butterfly numbers reflects the wider destruction of plant and animal life in Britain, experts warned. Butterfly Conservation, the charity which conducted the survey for the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), monitored 40 species at 620 sites, of which 371 were on so-called agri-environment schemes, where farmers are paid to establish wildlife habitats on their land.

However, four out of the eight most endangered species declined significantly even on the protected land. Overall, seven species improved, 20 declined, and 13 remained steady.

A lack of understanding from land managers and over-grazing by rabbits often caused agri-environment schemes to fail, Butterfly Conservation concluded. Since the survey was carried out, Defra has launched new Environmental Stewardship pro-jects that are tailored to the needs of individual butterfly species.

Dr Tom Brereton, who led the research, said: "Each species needs habitats with exact blends of different grasses, shrubs and bare ground. The catastrophic decline of butterflies since the Second World War has been caused by intensive farming and climate change.

"The results of the survey are worrying but we are optimistic about the new schemes"

Of the 59 butterflies native to Britain, five have become extinct in the last 150 years. The most recent was the Large Blue in 1979. The High Brown Fritillary and the Heath Fritillary, which were both common 50 years ago, are now critically endangered.

Jim Knight, the biodiversity minister, said: "We need to monitor how well Environmental Stewardship supports butterfly populations, particularly those most at risk."

Related links
A rare collection