Letter

Letter to the Editor

The Silver-studded Blue in Suffolk

I read with avid interest the Summer 2008 Special Edition of the Suffolk Argus reporting on the attempted reestablishment for the Silver-studded Blue at Blaxhall Common. A great deal of work has been put into this translocation with the involvement of over 30 people. Perhaps the assumed clandestine release of 1997 is open to question as small numbers were recorded in 1996.

When I skimmed the report and saw the wide distribution list I thought this would ‘bang the drum ’ for the Suffolk Branch and highlight its Silver-studded Blue work, but here I was disappointed.

The Suffolk Action Plan for Butterflies compiled by the Suffolk Branch of Butterfly Conservation specifically notes Blaxhall under Silver-studded Blue, but this failed to get a mention.

The Suffolk Argus. Volume 18 November 1999. Silver-studded Blues in Suffolk. Past, Present and Future again features Blaxhall as a likely site for re-introduction, but this again is not mentioned. This article also mentions the re-introduction at Aldringham Walks of 1998.

The Suffolk Argus. Volume 20 June 2000 reports on the reinforcement of the reintroduction at Aldringham Walks. The numbers sighted from the 1998 release are not dissimilar from those sighted at Blaxhall in 2008. I believe that the Aldringham Walks release should have been mentioned and the numbers recorded since 1999 used with the future Blaxhall numbers to begin a pattern for the expected growth of population of Silverstudded Blue relocations in Suffolk.

The Blaxhall Common release is a good move but it would have been good for the Suffolk Branch for it to have been shown as a continuation of the work of the Suffolk Branch of Butterfly Conservation rather than a one off.

James Mann Saint Jean Pla De Corts FRANCE 6 January 2009

Rob Parker replies

Many readers will remember James Mann as a past Branch Chairman, and a pioneer in the business of conserving the Silverstudded Blue in Suffolk, and I read his letter with interest, particularly because I believe that the Special Edition of the Suffolk Argus really did “bang the drum ” for our Branch. His words reminded me that I am a relative newcomer, and that a lot of work had been done before I arrived. Nonetheless, a lot of water has passed under the bridge in the last decade, and several of the documents that James assembled have been superseded.

In particular, the Suffolk Action Plan was overtaken by the BC Regional Plan for Anglia (Joy, 2000), which incorporated a history of the species in Suffolk, quoting the Suffolk Argus (Mann, 1999) as one of its sources. The possibility of introduction was carried into the Suffolk Local Biodiversity Action Plan (also 2000). This incorporated a Species Action Plan for the Silver-studded Blue, which was revised in 2007, and was awaiting re-issue at the time our submission for the 2007 translocation was made.

In producing the Special Edition of the Argus, we aimed to make a formal report of the translocation, backed with a readable account of the process. I believe we achieved that nicely, even if we missed the opportunity to present a comprehensive account of the history of the project.

During the 2009 season, Neil Ravenscroft will undertake a fresh ecological survey of selected Silver-studded Blue sites. This work has been funded by grants assembled by the Suffolk Branch for the purpose of continuing our work into the future.

Rob Parker.