Butterfly Rescue Mission - Fully Underway

John Orr's recent volunteering mission at Ardersier Common

Despite the recent snowy weather and cold temperatures, 17 hardy volunteers turned up at Ardersier Common on Saturday to join me (John Orr) and Tracy Munro from ‘Species on the Edge’ clear back gorse bushes and birch saplings from the glades, where rare the small blue and dingy skipper butterflies are found.

It took a lot of effort to cut these huge gorse bushes and sharp loppers and bowsaws, as well as good thick gauntlets were essential to tackle these prickly customers!

Keeping these glades open and clear of gorse will allow the plants the butterflies depend on to thrive and provide food and shelter for them and a host of other invertebrates.   

The small blue butterfly, the smallest in the UK - about the size of a 20p piece, has become scare due to a loss of suitable habitat and plant species.  Its caterpillar is a very fussy eater eating only one plant – the kidney vetch, which grows amongst the coastal shingle and sand dunes on this site. The dingy skipper butterfly is also rare in Scotland and needs foodplants like bird’s-foot trefoil which also grow in these glades.  

For several years now, volunteers from the local community in Ardersier have been working with the High Life Highland Countryside Ranger service, to give this little butterfly a helping hand. They have propagated kidney vetch seeds in gardens and planted them out along the upper shore beside the path to Fort George where there are a few isolated colonies of the butterfly. Having this food plant provides an important stepping-stone for these colonies to expand, this interventions has been successful at Ardersier Common, where the butterflies can now be seen and recorded flying in late May and June. 

Saturday’s joint event was organised by High Life Highland Ranger Service and Species on the Edge Project’s Tracy Munro. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who turned up and worked so hard to help preserve the habitat for these scarce butterflies.

This task really demonstrates how people can make a positive difference to the natural world. Tracy commented ‘Given the recent weather it would have been easy to cancel - but we didn’t and what a great day in glorious sunshine we had.’

This is site is just part of the Species on the Edge project being undertaking along the East Coast of Scotland to help conserve some of our rare species. Read about the whole project here:

We are looking for more volunteers to join us and help these special species so please get in touch.

To find out more about the Ardersier Common site and how we have been managing it for wildlife book onto John Orr’s talk ‘Maintaining a Haven for Wildlife: Ardersier Common and its rare ecosystem’ on Tuesday 6^th February at 7pm. Just click on this link to reserve your place*

*We ask for donations for this talk to help with our work, which goes towards education about and protection of the nature of the Highlands. Please give what you feel you can afford. Please be aware that there is a minimum donation of £1 required to book on via Eventbrite. This does not go to the Ranger Service but is to cover Eventbrite Fees.

John Orr is the High Life Highland Countryside Ranger for Inverness. Throughout his career spanning 30 years, John has demonstrated a deep commitment to environmental stewardship and education. His work has not only contributed to the preservation of Scotland's natural heritage but has also inspired many individuals to engage with and appreciate the natural world around them. His work includes developing and implementing management plans for local habitats, leading educational programmes, and working collaboratively with local communities to raise awareness of our natural world.