Despite butterfly numbers having sunk to a worrying low, a species has been re-established in England.
Butterfly Conservation brought the chequered skipper back to Rockingham Forest near Stamford using a donor population from Belgium.
The project started in 2018 and the charity has now declared it a success.
A male chequered skipper. Photo: Dave James
In September Butterfly Conservation had to announce its annual Big Butterfly Count had returned the worst ever results, with a decline in natural environments hitting populations.
But according to the charity the successful reintroduction of the chequered skipper shows people can start to undo years of harm.
Susannah O’Riordan, chequered skipper project manager for Butterfly Conservation, said: “The results from this project are very exciting. We’ve never carried out a project exactly like this before and it was a real experiment, but it has been a success. We have brought this wonderful butterfly back to England.
A female chequered skipper. Photo: Dave James
“Our work can now help inspire and inform future reintroductions and all kinds of conservation projects – for butterflies and beyond.”
Up until the 1950s, the chequered skipper was common in the East Midlands, including Rockingham Forest.
But woodland management – specifically the replacement of native trees with conifers and a tendency not to have any spaces to create glades – rendered the species extinct in England by 1976. The species is still common in parts of Europe and Asia.
Butterfly Conservation chose Rockingham Forest because from 2015 about 23 hectares began to be managed differently, to create habitats more suitable to butterflies.
Collecting in Belgium. Photo: Jamie Wildman
The team found a healthy population of chequered skipper in an area of Belgium that was similar to Rockingham Forest and collected more than 100, each undergoing a health check before and after their journey.
A total of 101 females and 27 males were released, the majority in Fineshade Wood and the rest at a secret second location.
Counting of the population was carried out by volunteers over the next five years, who photographed the chequered skippers and identified them through their unique markings.
Releasing chequered skippers at Fineshade in 2018. Photo: Susannah O’Riordan
In 2019 the team recorded 105 chequered skipper butterflies at Fineshade Wood that were the offspring of the original insects, confirming that the butterflies were breeding in England for the first time since the 1970s. In total more than 350 individual chequered skippers have now been counted.
In addition, the area the butterflies populate has grown, and the charity is looking for more sites to focus its work.
Dr Nigel Bourn, chief scientist for Butterfly Conservation, said: “We have so much to celebrate and we’re delighted to be able to call the first five years a success, however there’s a caveat: 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.
Photos taken by volunteers helped identify and count the new chequered skippers. Photo: Butterfly Conservation
“Climate change will bring more challenges and opportunities, but whatever they are we need to ensure we are creating and sustaining precious wild habitat for our wonderful and beloved native species to survive.”
More information on the project can be found at butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies/chequered-skipper