About the event

Brown Hairstreak butterflies are nationally scarce, with Devon remaining a stronghold. Monitoring the population across the county is therefore important, particularly as the decline of ash trees due to ash dieback, reduces preferred habitat for the adult butterflies. Presence of brown hairstreak therefore indicates not only the health of the species but tells us something about the quality of our treescapes.

You can help this recording effort by taking part in this Saving Devon's Treescapes training event and becoming one of our valued citizen scientists.

This training event is one of several this season and will be led by Jack Rivers, Devon Biodiversity Records Centre. You will learn about the brown hairstreak butterfly, its ecology, and how to search for and record its eggs. We will also explain how to participate in our monitoring programme throughout this winter and how to submit your all-important records, which are shared with Butterfly Conservation to be part of the national record.

Westerland Valley Country Park is on the outskirts of Paignton. It was once the site of Paignton's reservoirs and has become a haven for wildlife, including brown hairstreak butterflies, since the land was drained in the 1970. Ecological enhancement and work to create flood defences by Groundwork South, has been undertaken in recent years.

Final details about the event including the exact location and what to bring will be sent nearer the time. Please note that this event is aimed at adults and those brand new to brown hairstreak butterfly monitoring. No dogs please (except assistance dogs). The event will be unable to go ahead if it is raining heavily and therefore, we may need to cancel it at short notice. The session will involve walking across uneven, muddy ground.

For those who would like to learn a bit before the event, refresh existing skills, or if you can't attend but would like to be involved in recording brown hairstreak butterflies anyway, please see the recorded online training session Brown Hairstreak training (youtube.com). If you already know what to look for, then please contact Lindsay (lmahon@devonwildlifetrust.org) to agree/register your survey areas and you can then start recording using our online app: Treescapes (devontreescapes.com).

Saving Devon's Treescapes is led by Devon Wildlife Trust on behalf of the Devon Ash Dieback Resilience Forum. It's a partnership project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as well as other funders. Read more about the project and find other ways to get involved here: https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/saving-devons-treescapes.

Tickets for this event can be booked from Monday 14 October 2024.

Photo credits: Kevin New