Students in UHI North West and Hebrides’s Supported Learning Group have taken on the role of ambassador for the UK’s smallest butterfly: the small blue.
Since 1983, the national distribution of small blue has decreased by 43 per cent. In Scotland its abundance – the number of individuals counted at sites – has declined 39 per cent since 2005. It now has only 80 sites left in Scotland, with Caithness home to the three northernmost colonies of small blue in the country.
For the past two years, UHI’s Supported Learner students have been raising awareness of the small blue and raising money for the funding of new small blue habitat in Dunnet Community Forest. They created and sold keyrings, posters and information blocks, raising £200 for a ‘Butterfly Bank’ – a mound of sandy soil planted with kidney vetch designed to provide food, shelter, and a place for the small blues to lay their eggs. They also created signage to help protect the Butterfly Bank and raise awareness among visitors to the forest. The Butterfly Bank has been a great success, with both small blues and small blue eggs spotted on it this year.
With the Butterfly Bank up and running, the students are continuing with their ambassadorial work, turning their hand to writing letters to local MSPs and HRH King Charles. They were delighted to receive encouraging responses from all three – including a letter from the Head of Royal Correspondence on behalf of the King.
If you’re interested in getting involved in work to protect small blue butterflies in Caithness, or interested in getting involved in other Species on the Edge activity, get in touch: sote@nature.scot.
