Nature Features

A very rare butterfly has been discovered in a wood in Milton Keynes where it had been feared extinct.

Volunteers and staff of The Parks Trust have been undertaking butterfly surveys at several sites in Milton Keynes throughout June.

Two Black Hairstreaks were spotted by a volunteer at Howe Park Wood and following this initial find, the butterfly has had two further sightings in two separate areas of the wood, dispelling fears that it had totally disappeared.

The Black Hairstreak is brown in colour with orange/red edges, with a distinctive row of black spots on its underwings, a white streak and a small tail.

One of the rarest butterflies in the UK

Martin Kincaid, The Parks Trust’s Volunteers Co-ordinator, spoke to Morning:MK presenter Helen Leigh: 

"There are five different Hairstreaks" explained Martin "There's one called the Green Hairstreak and another called the Purple Hairstreak - so they do rather bring to mind punk hairstyles!!

"The Black Hairstreak is very rare - in fact it's one of the rarest butterflies in the UK, a conservative estimate is probably only about 60 to 70 colonies."

Martin went to explain what makes this butterfly so unique and why it's so difficult to spot…

"It's not the sort of butterfly that you would expect to visit your garden; it's very much a specialist job to find one.   They spend most of their time in the tops of black thorn thickets and trees so you don't get to find them unless you are really looking hard."

This year, a determined effort has been made with a number of volunteers recruited by The Parks Trust to search for a range of butterflies in and around Milton Keynes' woodlands.

"We decided this year to mount a really serious look for this butterfly; it hadn't been seen in Howe Park Wood for about nine or ten years, so we were beginning to think we had lost it completely in our area.

"We had around ten volunteers searching in different parts of the wood and eventually we were lucky enough to find it!" said Martin.

Listen to the full interview here:

If anyone is interested in volunteering to help survey for butterflies and other wildlife please contact The Parks Trust on 01908 233600 or visit www.theparkstrust.com.