Restoration

Half way round my butterfly transect walk at the nature reserve this morning - this is the best section of chalk grassland restoration. It shows what results can be achieved 13/14 years after removing some of the nutrient-rich top soil from this ex-arable field, strewing green hay collected from a traditional chalk grassland site elsewhere in the Chilterns and then grazing hard in spring and autumn to favour some of the low growing herbs. This was our first experimental restoration area and the success here within just a few years led us to reseed the rest of this group of fields over the last couple of years. The butterfly numbers are building up each year now, including Dark Green Fritillary, which turned up last year and made a first appearance for this year this morning.