Farmers create butterfly banks on Dorset-Hampshire border

A group of 15 farmers has teamed up to create spaces for rare butterflies and bees on the Dorset-Hampshire border.

They have created 30 metre-long chalk banks on a farm within the Cranborne Estate, close to the Martin Down National Nature Reserve near Fordingbridge.

The banks have been planted with nearly 400 kidney vetch plants and seven species of native wildflowers.

The rare Small Blue butterfly lays its eggs, lives and feeds exclusively on kidney vetch.

Megan Lock from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust said: "These plants should thrive in the nutrient-poor soil but still leave lots of bare earth for mining bees and burrowing wasps.

"The Small Blue butterfly has been chosen by the farmers as one of their priority species.

"This new habitat should help them increase their range around the nature reserve."

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