Cows to the Rescue: Saving Britain's Rarest Butterfly with Grazing Magic!

For over thirty years, Paul Dunn has dedicated his time to helping one of Britain's rarest butterflies, the high brown fritillary. This butterfly, with its bright orange wings and black markings, was once common in Wales and England. However, since 1970, its population has dropped by 62 percent, making it one of the rarest butterflies in Britain. The high brown fritillary is very particular about its habitat. It needs a special mix of bracken and a plant called the common dog violet to survive. Paul Dunn and his team of volunteers have been working in the Alun Valley at Old Castle Down in the Vale of Glamorgan to create the perfect environment for these butterflies.

One of the main problems is that too much bracken stops the dog violet from growing. The dog violet is important because the caterpillars of the high brown fritillary eat it. In the past, people used bracken as bedding for animals, but now they use straw, so bracken grows too much. The volunteers have been cutting back the bracken and clearing overgrown hedges to help the dog violet grow. Recently, they started letting cows graze on the land. The cows help by trampling the bracken, but not destroying it completely. This creates patches of open ground where the temperature is just right for the butterfly's caterpillars. The cows also make the ground uneven, which helps create warm spots for the butterflies.

Because the land is common and has no fences, the team got special solar-powered collars for the cows. These collars keep the cows in the right area without needing fences. The volunteers have worked hard for decades, and their efforts are paying off. The number of high brown fritillaries is starting to rise again. The team has grown from just two people to more than forty. They are not just saving butterflies; they have also built a strong community. They meet regularly, share meals, and enjoy working outdoors together. Over the past ten years, more than thirty-seven species of butterflies have been seen in this part of Wales. For Paul Dunn, all the hard work has been worth it. He calls it a 'beautiful obsession' and is proud to see the high brown fritillary making a comeback.