Malvern Hills Lost Fritillaries Project
To reintroduce an endangered butterfly called the Pearl-bordered Fritillary back on to the Malvern Hills, to improve the habitat for wildlife and to increase biodiversity.
About the Project Creator
My name is Mel Mason. I am a volunteer and Vice-chair of West Midlands Butterfly Conservation, the largest branch of Butterfly Conservation, a British charity devoted to saving butterflies, moths and their habitats throughout the UK. I am leading a project to reintroduce a rare and endangered butterfly called Pearl-bordered Fritillary back on to three of its former strongholds before it became locally extinct at the end of last century. In spring, we plan to collect female butterflies from succesful sites in nearby counties and allow them to lay eggs in netted pots of violets. Many volunteers are already growing hundreds of violets to feed the caterpillars during the summer, then allow the caterpillars to hibernate before they resume eating the following spring, pupate and emerge as adult butterflies to release on selected sites around the Malvern Hills. This is called captive larval breeding and must be repeated for several years to build up a viable population that can sustain itself in the future. Much more is now understood than in the past about managing the habitat. Landowners are planning to modify their habitat management on bracken landscapes in preparation for this reintroduction.