A rare breed of butterfly has set up home in Oxford.
Conservation volunteers planted butterfly-attracting hedges in Long Close, Wood Farm, in September 2006 hoping to attract Brown Hairstreak butterflies - and yesterday they revealed a colony had been found.
David Redhead, of the Upper Thames branch of Butterfly Conservation, visited the site last week and discovered eggs laid by the species.
The discovery follows a recent report by Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, which found butterfly numbers had dropped to a 25-year low after last summer's wet weather and flooding.
Only one colony of Brown Hairstreak butterflies was previously known to exist, on the county border with Buckinghamshire.
Mr Redhead said: "I'm very excited by the discovery of the eggs.
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"When the planting started, they were originally going to only plant hawthorn.
"But we knew this type of butterfly lived nearby and so encouraged residents to plant blackthorn instead.
The Brown Hairstreak
"It's the only type of plant the Brown Hairstreak lives on and by planting these hedges it allowed us to expand the butterfly's habitat allowing it to establish itself in the area.
"There has been a massive decline in butterflies anyway caused by the loss of habitats in the countryside, but the poor weather definitely had an effect.
"While some species are able to cope with these types of weather conditions in winter months, having them in summer affected the butterflies at a time in their development when they were unable to deal with it.
"Long Close seems to be a fairly strong, stable population that goes against the national trend we are seeing."
Mr Redhead praised the work of local residents in creating the habitat two years ago.
He said he wanted to encourage other communities to follow in their footsteps.
He said: "A lot of people, especially young people, came down and got involved with the project and I'm so pleased it has worked.
"I would like to encourage people who are thinking of planting hedges like this to think about what they are planting and how."
The planting project in 2006 was organised by Community Service Volunteers (CSV), a national organisation that creates opportunities for people to get involved in community projects like this.
Mike Williams, from CSV Action Earth, said: "I'm really pleased that the hard work of the volunteers has directly benefited this rare species.
"It just goes to show the long-term impact of a single day of volunteering.
"I hope this encourages more people to volunteer to improve their local environment."
is that david redhead? is he holding a leaf? is he wearing spectacles? what are those white reflections in the lenses? is that the brown hairstreak? On the strength of this, i'm going to improve my local environment! hurrah!!
is that david redhead? is he holding a leaf? is he wearing spectacles? what are those white reflections in the lenses? is that the brown hairstreak? On the strength of this, i'm going to improve my local environment! hurrah!!
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