Beautiful marsh butterfly returns

Larvae of one of Britain’s most threatened butterflies have been released in north Hampshire in an ambitious conservation project that aims to reintroduce the insect to the county after two decades.

The marsh fritillary has suffered years of habitat loss and degradation seeing its numbers plummet across Europe. With its bright, patterned wings, it is one of the most colourful and distinctive species, and is now confined to Ireland and west Britain.

However, thanks to conservationists working with the Hampshire Marsh Fritillary Action Group, healthy populations from elsewhere in the UK are being used to reintroduce the marsh fritillary to Hampshire following a two-year captive breeding and release programme that began in September 2016, with 300 marsh fritillary caterpillars from several strong colonies in Dartmoor, Devon. Samantha Herbert