Layered Lives on Clee Liberty Common
A day of two parts, and we’re transported from macro to micro. I didn’t think that on a cold windy morning, with the threat of rain, we’d have any chance of seeing a butterfly, but we’re in luck - among the gorse thickets in a gully, out of the path of the wind, a green hairstreak butterfly is spotted. And then another. And another.
We’re here with Mike Williams from West Midlands Butterfly Conservation and a team of volunteers specifically to try and find some of these. Green hairstreak butterflies are only on the wing for three weeks of the year, Mike tells me, so that aren’t that many windows of opportunity. On Clee Liberty, these tiny, bright emerald butterflies rely on gorse. This plant offers food for the caterpillars, which then over-winter among the gorse as pupae, and emerge the following year as butterflies; and the cycle begins again.
Looking for green hairstreak butterfly among the gorse on Clee Liberty Common
Butterflies and commons
The upland commons in Shropshire are thought to be hugely important for green hairstreak and other butterflies, which are less and less commonplace in lower levels - something that may be due to a combination of a changing climate and a decline in suitable habitats. Mike tells us: ‘Shropshire commons are really important for butterflies and moths. They contain a number of species which have actually either disappeared completely or are very much declining in other parts of the of the West Midlands. But there are still good populations on some of these Commons.’ As part of the Upland Commons project in Shropshire, Mike and an expanding team of volunteers are carrying our regular surveys to get a better idea of numbers of green hairstreak butterflies. It’s the first time this close monitoring has been done on Clee Liberty. ‘Recording is key to conserving these species. Without that kind of data, the scientists wouldn't have the information that they need to give understand trends - which ones are increasing, which ones are declining - and to identify some of the kinds of habitats that butterflies need, if they're going to thrive in the modern age. We're hoping that through the project, we can work with commoners and landowners to improve some of the habitats for these important species.’
There’s an excited shout from one of the group as the first green hairstreak is spotted, and we all edge our way down into the gully to see it. What follows is quite a buzz as we find butterfly after butterfly. Mike explains their lifecycle to us and we do our best to capture an image on cameras and phones. One of the volunteers uploads the information to add to the ongoing records.
Green Hairstreak butterfly on gorse that's sheltered from the strong wind
Further down the common we take a look in a little clearing. Somehow, in amongst what looks like only grass, a small heath butterfly is spotted. We move in slowly and get a sighting of this quite humble looking brown butterfly, settled in the short grass. No gorse for this one - the small heath loves the close-cropped, grazed grass. When it flies off, we see the flash of orange in its outstretched wings.
‘Small heath is an interesting species,’ says Mike. ‘It has become much more of an upland species than it used to be. It does occur on a lot of these commons, and it tends to like short turf. So sheep grazing and grazing from other animals can actually bring benefits, as far as the small heath is concerned.’
Despite the pressures and gloomy news about worrying declines in the numbers of butterflies and moths across the UK, Mike holds some optimism. ‘I think the thing to remember is that butterflies have been with us for thousands and thousands of years. They've survived all kinds of pressures. The problem for butterflies is where their habitats have deteriorated in quality. As far as the future is concerned, it’s about getting people to understand what it is that butterflies and moths actually need; then hopefully, action can follow.’
And up to the heights
A few hours later, we’re driving past these same small patches of grass and gorse with one of the commoners, John Heighway. He recognises the green hairstreak when I show him a picture. On the way up the common, we stop by some gorse and John explains where he’d like to keep paths clear through the gorse, rather than allow it to continue to grow without limit. ‘It’s about managing it, so we can keep the wildlife corridors,’ says John, ‘and make sure the sheep can get through.’
John Heighway out on Clee Liberty Common
As we cover the common with John, he points out the birds that fly up in front of us - mostly skylarks - and the tiny flowers in the grass. Yellow tormentil, white bedstraw, and eyebright. That’s not the main focus, though. The job today is to take feedblocks out to the lambs at different locations on the common. John has fenced a few patches off to keep cattle away and encourage the sheep to trample down bracken as they eat. In the past, bracken in some places here grew above head height, and caused real difficulties for the farmers, who couldn’t get all their sheep in for shearing. It’s not so bad now, but does still pose a challenge. And unlike gorse, or the open areas which support butterflies and nesting birds, when bracken dominates, it isn’t great for wildlife.
Rob and I are jiggled around in the trailer that John’s towing on his quad. It’s certainly not comfortable, but it’s a quick way to get the feed blocks out, and for us to get to see the highest point of Clee Liberty Common. We continue up onto Brown Clee, which is the highest point in Shropshire. From here, we look over towards the Long Mynd, and to Wales in the far distance. We chat with John about the different uses of land. The land below the hills is a patchwork of fields, most of them edged with hedges, and it looks resplendently green. Where we are, the grass is rougher and whiter. And the wind is so cold it feels like a separate season.
John Heighway talking to Harriet on Brown Clee about land use in the lowlands and uplands
Up here, the land offers something very different from the planned fields of the lowland. There are areas that have been very lightly grazed for several years that are filling up with heather and bilberry, and pale clumps of long grass. Where there is more grazing, the grass is short, and on patches out here John has seen the ground-nesting birds curlews and snipe, which like a mixture of open ground and tufty grass. There are many areas where last year’s bracken lies brown and dry, but shoots are beginning to push through and in a month or so its extent will become clear.
John Heighway looking down from Clee Liberty Common to the home farm
In the Bluebell Field
Before we arrive back in the farmyard, John takes us to the ‘Bluebell Field’. Most of the bluebells have died back now and instead this small field is white, yellow and pink with pignut, buttercups and clover. Stopping here reminds us just how much diversity there is on the land that a commoner typically works with: a tapestry where each part has a function, and the whole is interconnected, with the home farm and the cupland common intimately linked. So many things are linked: the tiny tormentil, pignut flowers or hairstreak butterflies, and the wide open hillside, the one-year cycle of a butterfly and the generations of farmers who pass on knowledge and a sense of belonging, care for livestock and land, and work in a dynamic way to manage a farm business, all the while adapting to legislation and opportunities laid out by government and to changing market pressures. Working out what patterns of stocking and grazing that provide the right kind of balance for place, people and wildlife - including the butterflies and moths that are right now being counted - is a dynamic and evolving process.
By 7pm, ten hours after we arrived, Rob and I are reeling: we’ve taken a journey from tiny worlds to wide views. We spend the rest of the evening thinking about perspectives - what matters for butterflies, what matters for skylarks, or clover, or gorse; what matters for commoners; and what matters for future generations of humans and so many other species. It’s a complexity that isn’t simple to unpick, but is part of the richness of common life, and something that needs to be valued as people pool their different knowledges, skills and ideas, in these precious spaces.
Words: Harriet Fraser
Images: Rob Fraser
Thanks to: John Heighway, commoner; Mike Williams, West Midlands Butterfly Conservation