WIND FARM FRITS
£2,000 – MICRO FUND – FEB 2017
This application was thorough and well-presented, along with clear costings, looking at promoting conservation and environmental awareness. Regular news reports highlight the ongoing reducing numbers of butterflies due to climate impacts and as a result of habitat destruction. The 2016 Big Butterfly Count recorded its lowest number of common species since records began. Butterfly Conservation is the lead organisation in this field and has an active programme of work – both site based and educational. They regularly attend events, give lectures and talk to schools and produce a newsletter twice a year.
“Our own organisation is very appreciative of the opportunity to obtain new equipment with help from the Pen Y Cymoedd grant so that we can carry on. We believe that our projects add to the biodiversity of our environment and help to keep these threatened species to survive. By carrying out this work we are ensuring that the species will be available for future generations to enjoy, if they are so inclined. This year we saw a slight increase in the butterflies overall but at our most vulnerable sites there were quite dramatic increases.
At the Ger y Bont site at Hirwaun, where we only see one or two Marsh Fritillaries, we saw 6 this year. When we returned to do a larval web count in August we found 19 larval webs, the highest ever for this site. Also at this site; the owner stated that he had never seen the butterflies in all the twenty years he had lived there. He joined me when I went to survey the site and saw all six and managed to photograph some as well. He was overjoyed and took his children and his grand-children over to the fields to see them.” – Benjamin Williams Butterfly Conservation
LOCATION OF ACTIVITY: HIRWAUN
VALLEY: CYNON
