The conservation of the pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly (Boloria euphrosyne L.): preliminary studies on the creation and management of glades in conifer plantations

Many woodland butterflies have declined this century mainly because of a reduction in coppice management, which used to provide a continuous supply of early successional habitats. In recent years populations of rare butterflies have persisted in some conifer plantations on ancient woodland sites in southern England. Management of such sites for the conservation of thesebutterflies often involves the establishment and subsequent management of glades at forest track intersections, sometimes known as box-junctions. In this paper we document the importance of box-junctions for the conservation of the pearl-bordered fritillary in Bernwood Forest, Oxfordshire. At this site the population was centred on managed box-junctions where its foodplant (Viola spp.) was well established. However, the difficulties in creating the correct early successional habitat with large numbers of violets in box-junctions was demonstrated in a simple experiment.