Butterfly Conservation

Creating a future for the High Brown Fritillary

Join our urgent mission to prevent the extinction of one of the UK's most threatened species. Donate today to protect butterflies and moths!
£31,072
raised of £30,000 target
by 201 supporters
RCN 254937

Story

We want to save one of the UK’s most threatened butterflies. Will you help?

The High Brown Fritillary is one of the UK’s most threatened butterflies. Since 1978 the species has declined by a bleak 65% in population and a huge 87% in distribution across the UK, primarily caused by habitat destruction and inappropriate management.

Endangered on the Red List of Butterflies (an assessment of extinction risk of our butterflies), without urgent, drastic conservation action, the High Brown Fritillary faces a real threat of extinction. However, we can stop this – but we can’t do it without you.

We face a choice. Do nothing and allow this majestic species to disappear or secure the future of the High Brown using our expert conservation action. We choose a future, will you?

We must protect this dramatically declining butterfly. We have ambitious plans but we urgently need your support. Please consider a donation today to support this project and help save other butterflies and moths throughout the UK.

After a 61% loss of colonies, Heddon Valley, Exmoor, stands as one of only three locations in England supporting the High Brown, where it continues to suffer significant contraction from the east. They urgently need protecting to ensure that the species can survive in this area.

We are partnering with the National Trust to restore Heddon Valley and increase the resilience of this population. But we can’t stop there. We must create new areas for the High Brown to expand into, creating bigger, better, more joined habitats. This is the only way to create a sustainable future for the High Brown.

Alongisde the work planned in Heddon Valley, we have identified 10 further key National Trust sites, where new colonies could establish in the future, allowing the butterfly to spread West to East. Survey work is urgently required in these sites and plans made for restoration, before further losses occur.

With your support, we will deploy our targeted conservation action to transform these sites, educate staff, volunteers and communities and create havens for the High Brown to expand into. But we can only do this with your help.

Please consider a donation today to help us protect the future of the High Brown Fritillary and secure the fates of other butterflies and moths throughout the UK.

From near extinction….to expansion.

Changing the fate of one of the UK’s most threatened butterflies requires scientifically driven, targeted conservation action.

We plan to deliver restoration work across large areas, trialling new management techniques in woodland areas to create more breeding habitat and providing routes for them to move beyond the Heddon Valley into new sites.

We have the expertise to carry out the work – and you have the power to make it happen. Please show your support and donate today to protect the future of the High Brown.

See here how we’ll change the fate of the High Brown Fritillary.

Your donation will help fund this project and, if excess funds are raised, other key work across the UK on our vital mission to save butterflies, moths and the environment.

In the event that we do not reach our campaign target, any funds raised will still make an important contribution to our work across the UK. In the unlikely event that the campaign becomes invalid, funds raised will be allocated to support other conservation and community activity saving butterflies and moths across the UK to further the charity's mission.

About the charity

Butterfly Conservation is the UK charity dedicated to saving butterflies and moths. Butterflies and moths are key indicators of the health of our environment. Butterfly Conservation improves landscapes for butterflies and moths, creating a better environment for us all.

Donation summary

Total raised
£31,072.00
+ £1,855.50 Gift Aid
Online donations
£8,028.00
Offline donations
£23,044.00
Direct donations
£8,028.00
Donations via fundraisers
£0.00

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