Home / Environment / Rare Butterfly Eggs Soar After Hedge Care
Rare Butterfly Eggs Soar After Hedge Care
30 Jan
Summary
- Record brown hairstreak butterfly egg numbers found near Llandeilo.
- Hedge management changes led to a 50% increase in egg counts.
- Sustainable farming schemes now support butterfly conservation efforts.
Winter surveys near Llandeilo revealed a significant increase in brown hairstreak butterfly eggs, with over 300 found. This remarkable upturn follows a decade of decline in the Tywi valley, attributed to intensive hedge flailing that destroyed eggs. Conservationists collaborated with landowners and authorities to implement more sustainable hedge management practices, including reduced cutting frequency and planting new blackthorn.
Volunteers recorded 276 eggs on one roadside verge and 117 on another, a substantial rise from previous years. In contrast, nearby hedges that continued to be flailed saw egg numbers plummet from an average of 60 to just four. The new Welsh government sustainable farming scheme, which discourages annual flailing, is expected to further support these conservation efforts and aid the species' recovery.
