Butterfly Conservation’s BBQ for Butterflies!
Buying locally produced charcoal for your summer’s barbeque can help woodland butterflies! Simple actions, such as buying locally produced charcoal, can benefit butterflies and other wildlife.
By coppicing woodland (cutting small blocks of woodland on a cyclical basis) areas are continually opened up, providing bright, flower-rich areas which are vital for many woodland butterflies to feed and breed
Buying locally produced charcoal for your summer’s barbeque can help woodland butterflies!
Butterfly Conservation’s BBQ for Butterflies will be held at Elham Farmers’ Market (Rose and Crown, High Street, Elham) on Sunday 24th May between 10.30am – 12.30pm.
The event aims to highlight how simple actions, such as buying locally produced charcoal, can benefit butterflies and other wildlife.
All welcome, come along and enjoy a free BBQ snack (first come, first served) and learn how woodland activities such as charcoal making can help keep our coppice woodlands in good shape for wildlife.
There will also be an opportunity to buy charcoal produced by a local woodsman from local timber in a local wood, while doing your regular market shopping for locally-produced food. Local craft stalls will include a spinning demonstration using local wool.
By coppicing woodland (cutting small blocks of woodland on a cyclical basis) areas are continually opened up, providing bright, flower-rich areas which are vital for many woodland butterflies to feed and breed.
Woodlands in the East Kent Downs have traditionally supported a fantastic array of flora and fauna, and were home to the last populations of Pearl-bordered Fritillary butterfly in the county.
Once common and widespread, the Pearl-bordered Fritillary was last seen in Kent in 2003, and is now presumed extinct in the county. This species has suffered drastic declines across England as woodlands become neglected, due to lack of markets for their products.
The BBQ is being run as part of Butterfly Conservation’s Denge Woods Project, a landscape project in the East Kent Downs looking to improve habitats for woodland butterflies and moths.
Fran Thompson, Denge Woods Project Officer, says “charcoal making is one of many traditional practices in our woodlands which once widespread, has all but disappeared in recent times. By buying products from our local woodlands, such as charcoal, you can help woodland wildlife, and keep a traditional practice alive. Buying local logs for your winter fires, and local chestnut fencing, are other ways you can support your local woodlands and the wildlife they contain”.
13.05.09
