Record number of rare Barberry Carpet Moths found in Dorset
Figures have increased by over 200% in the last four years
Record numbers of the rare barberry moth have been discovered in Blanford Forest thanks to a conservation project to save the species.
The breed of moth began declining in the 19th century after the removal of wild Barberry bushes, which the moths rely on to feed and breed.
This continued into the late 1980s, when the species became nearly extinct and was known to live in just a single site.
Thankfully, a team of dedicated volunteers over Dorset have been trying to build new homes for the moths to live in.
These volunteers, from Forestry England and Butterfly Conservation, have been planting wild barberry plants in the woodlands over the last few years.
As a result, 50 larvae (the baby form of the insect before metamorphosis) were discovered in this year's survey compared to 14 in 2018.
This put Dorset on the map as one of the biggest hotspots for the rare moth in the UK.
Here at Greatest Hits Radio, we spoke to Wareham Wildlife Ranger Mark Warn about the project.
He told us: "It's a lot of hard work and a lot of manual work to get the plants established, but because we've gone to this extent and expanded these plants around the Blanford Forest area, we're now getting to see this population increase.
"If we have a catastrophic event like a forest fire, we could end up losing an entire population if it is only limited to one part of the habitat.
"We are therefore going to continue to increase the amount of available habitat so that the species has long-term resilience."
Ranger Mark has encouraged anyone who wants to get involved with volunteering in this project to get in touch with the Forestry England team.