I spy . . . caterpillars that glow in the dark!

Needle in a haystack? Not if you’ve got the right torch!

Birds aren’t the only flying creatures we’re keen to see in the woods. The blackthorn stand at the meadow end of the woods is perfect for Brown Hairstreak butterflies – it is where they lay their eggs.

Thanks to a game-changing new technique in conservation, it’s so much easier to detect their presence. Rather than hoping to see a tiny white egg on the underside of a leaf in winter, or spot a dark butterfly up a tree in summer, the idea is to survey in between (late April/early May) for the caterpillars – because they glow in the dark!

Click here to read more from BBOWT how this has been a gamechanger.

If you would like to get involved in caterpillar spotting in our own Millennium Woods, please contact Robert: robertmanasse123@gmail.com

You may have seen in the news recently a report that half a century of data from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) shows that many of the UK’s species are disappearing due to habitat loss, pollution and climate change.

Butterfly Conservation says: "Of the 59 native butterfly species monitored, 33 have declined, 25 have improved and one mountain-dwelling species has insufficient data . . . While some adaptable species are coping and even spreading to new areas, specialist butterflies, restricted to particular habitats such as woodland glades or chalk downland, have fared worse – and many are declining at alarming rates.

The Pearl-bordered Fritillary, a striking orange-and-black butterfly whose caterpillars only eat violets growing in warm, sunny spots in woodland clearings and bracken-covered hillsides, has declined by 70 per cent since 1976.

. . . Some specialist species have done well, such as the Black Hairstreak, which only lays its eggs on blackthorn but has increased by 844 per cent since 1995 - however this is a species which Butterfly Conservation has been doing targeted work to help across the country for decades."

Which just goes to show that concerted conservation efforts can reverse what sometimes feels like an inevitable downward trend in the face of an increasingly hostile climate. We'd love for you to be involved in helping our efforts to turn things around for our local wildlife.