RE-CREATION OF EARLY-SUCCESSIONAL STAGES FOR THREATENED BUTTERFLIES - AN ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING APPROACH

The importance of early-successional stages for the conservation of threatened butterflies of calcareous grassland, and reasons for their decline, are outlined. The opportunity to re-establish chalk grassland on a site made available through construction of a motorway (the Bar End to Compton section of the M3, Hampshire) is described. The characteristics of the site are compared with present-day and historical conditions on the adjacent St Catherine's Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest. Details of proposals to modify the topography of the site by ecological engineering are given. This modification is based upon a detailed knowledge of the ecological requirements of a range of scarce butterfly species, microclimatic observations and an assessment of available resources for re-vegetating the site. The reasons for the failure to implement the proposals are discussed. It is suggested that conservationists need to give greater emphasis to dynamic aspects of conservation and re-creation of early-successional communities.