Butterfly Surveys at Butterdon Wood

Claire, one of our new school Governors, is a keen butterfly and beetle enthusiast and more often than not on a warm sunny day when there isn’t too much wind about you might find her out Butterfly or Beetle hunting.

So on a warm summers day in August (one of those rare days when it didn’t rain…) Claire visited Butterdon Wood and made her way down to Compartment One where we are encouraging natural regeneration of native trees and flora, alongside our tree planting programme. 

In 2015/2016 we had to make a difficult decision to remove all the Japanese Larch from this Compartment, and the next one along too, to protect the remainder of the plantation from a disease called Phytothera ramorum a highly contagious disease that can cause sudden oak death.

Whilst our Larch trees did not have the disease, a tree only 200m away did, and these drastic measures were necessary to protect the remainder of the woodland. To lose the whole woodland in one go would have been devastating.

Since then Compartment One has become a haven for flora and fauna that had not had the opportunity to flourish under a heavy canopy of dense, and unmanaged conifer trees prior to Running Deer C.I.C purchasing the woodland in 2013. Indeed the only thing that was in abundance when the larch trees were there was bare soil (and larch needles) and wood sorrel. The ground was very acidic.

Our own tree planting programme, alongside over 70 silver birch trees planted by Moretonhampstead Primary School (who had grown them all from seed) kickstarted our woodland management plan for this Compartment. 

Now the natural regeneration has turned this area into the most beautiful spot, with native trees and shrubs such as rowan, birch, cherry and broom growing alongside wild flowers and grasses.

So on that very rare sunny summers day in early August, Claire visited Butterdon Wood and started to survey the area where she noted the butterflies that she came across so far.

Gatekeeper 10+

Meadow Brown 10+

Peacock 3

Small Skipper 3

Large White 2 Marbled White 3

Small Copper 4

Common Blue 1

Small White 1

Silver Y Moth 3

We look forward to more visits and hope to include beetles and other bugs into our surveys as well!