RARE butterflies and moths could soon be a more familiar sight around Morecambe Bay after plans to restore 730 hectares of open woodland received a £193,000 funding boost.
Butterfly Conservation (BC) will begin a programme of scrub removal, coppicing and clearing at 17 woodland sites in the Morecambe Bay Limestones National Character Area this October, after receiving the money from grant-giving body WREN’s FCC Biodiversity Action Fund.
Dave Wainwright, BC's Regional Officer for the North of England, hopes the three-year project will create a lasting biodiversity hotspot suitable for Duke of Burgundy, High Brown Fritillary and Pearl-Bordered Fritillary butterflies, as well as White Sable moths and other threatened flora and fauna, including marsh tits and the dormouse.
“We are extremely grateful to WREN for backing the Morecambe Bay Limestone Woodlands project," he said. "Without support of this kind we really are in danger of losing some of our most endangered habitats, along with the rare and threatened species that rely on them for their survival.”
WREN is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community, biodiversity and heritage projects from funds donated by FCC Environment through the Landfill Communities Fund.
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