Work Parties on Heathland Habitat

Volunteers are needed in the Ipswich area to work on two separate projects for heathland butterflies.

The Silver-studded Blue site at Purdis Heath is in urgent need of improvement as the colony has fallen to critically low numbers in recent years. The maximum count for 2010 was only 3 butterflies! Mechanical work is being done to increase the extent of the pioneer heather re-growth, courtesy of the Ipswich Golf Club, but manual labour is also going to be needed to clear the encroaching gorse. Work parties are organised periodically by the Greenways Project and publicised at http://www.greenlivingcentre.org.uk/diar y/diary.php , or in the Local Wildlife News http://www.greenlivingcentre.org.uk/gree nways/lwn1008/ If you would like to receive copies of Local Wildlife News regularly through the post, please contact the Greenways Project on 01473 433995 or at greenways.project@ipswich.gov.uk The annual megabash at Purdis Heath will be held on 22nd January, and other volunteer activities are arranged on Tuesdays or Fridays. If you are interested in taking part, please make yourself known to James Baker on 01473 433995.

The excellent site at Pipers Vale does not have Silver-studded Blue, but the heather is already being extended to improve the possibilities. Two separate areas of ling with bell heather now exist and need further work - particularly gorse clearance. If you might be able to assist, please make contact with: Richard Sharp Orwell Country Park Wildlife & Education Ranger Telephone: 01473 433991 Mobile: 07736 826 301 richard.sharp@ipswich.gov.uk

In both cases, the dates of heathland restoration work parties have yet to be settled, but will occur during the autumn/winter months. Suffolk Branch is starting a project to ensure that we give advice and assistance to support the ailing colonies of Silver-studded Blue surviving on the Ipswich heaths. Please take this opportunity to do something practical for butterflies.

To the east of Ipswich at MartleshamHeath, where there is a Silver-studded Blue colony, the Martlesham Conservation Group meets on the second Sunday of each month. If you are able to help with gorse and bracken clearance, call Phil Smith on 01473 625630 or email: phil.j.smith@btinternet.com. The megabash will be held in February, and more information will be available from James Baker on 01473 433995.

White-letter Hairstreak and the WCBS 2009 Peter Dare (WCBS Co-ordinator)

Apologies to Steve Goddard for the omission of his sighting of White-letter Hairstreak in TM0553 from the WCBS Report, The Suffolk Argus, Summer 2010, Vol. 48. This was the only record of the species during the 2009 survey.