Help grown for rare butterfly

A new generation of an under threat tree is getting ready to help support a rare butterfly.

Denbighshire County Councils Biodiversity team has nurtured a large crop of wych elms at the Local Provenance Tree Nursery, St Asaph.

Wych Elms are under threat from Dutch elms disease, with many mature trees cut down due to its impact, reducing the growth and spread of younger trees.

Over 1,800 wych elm trees have been grown at the site by the team from seeds collected at Loggerheads Country Park last year to help the tree resurge in Denbighshire. These will be eventually planted out at the Green Gates Nature Reserve development next to the tree nursery.

This work and other projects at the site to protect local tree and wildflower species is funded by Welsh Government through the Local Places for Nature grant as part of the Council’s work with the Local Nature Partnership.

Wych elms are an important larval food-plant of the rare White-Letter Hairstreak Butterfly, which was recorded at Loggerheads some years back but has since remained scarce  across Denbighshire.

This butterfly needs the unopened flower buds of the wych elm for food to survive.

Sam Brown, Tree Nursery Assistant, explained: “We are really pleased we have been able to grow nearly 2,000 wych elms here at the nursery as the future of the tree has been threatened by Dutch elms disease and a reluctance to replant the tree.

“Not only that this tree goes hand in hand with putting food out there for an extremely rare butterfly and having this number that will be planted out on the Green Gates Nature Reserve will go a long way to encouraging White-Letter Hairstreaks to turn their decline around.

“The butterflies only need young wych elms that are old enough to flower to provide them with food and this first crop we have will be perfect for meeting this requirement.”

“Its so important to reverse the loss of trees and habitats by climate change and human action. The wych elm is a perfect as plants and trees all play their part in providing a vital food source for insects and animals. The less and less there are in Denbighshire, the more at risk our local nature becomes.”