Rare small blues and dingy skippers among species found on former wheatfields two years after start of transformation under commercial nature project

Small blues and dingy skippers have appeared at Halnaker Hill Farm for the first time, on former wheatfields now funded by developers buying biodiversity units. The count is striking. The next 28 years of management will decide whether it lasts.

Nationally important Small Blue and Dingy Skipper butterfly species found for the first time at Halnaker Hill Farm

Two nationally important types of butterfly have been recorded for the first time at Halnaker Hill Farm – including the UK’s tiniest species.Surveys conducted at the farm in West Sussex found 85 Small...

Just two years after 133 hectares of intensive wheat farmland at Halnaker Hill were converted into a nature restoration project, experts have recorded over 5,000 butterflies. The site, which now features wildflower meadows and new woodland, demonstrates how quickly biodiversity can recover when land

nature restoration elsewhere. The independent ecologist Neil Hulme, who has advised Halnaker Hill on nature restoration and surveyed for

🇬🇧 A restored West Sussex farm has recorded 5,290 butterflies, including rare species, just two years after intensive wheat production ended.

Halnaker Hill Farm swapped four decades of wheat for wildflowers. Surveyors have now logged 28 butterfly species, including two nationally important newcomers.

Halnaker Hill Farm has recorded thousands of butterflies including the small blue and dingy skipper.

An “amazing” abundance of 5,290 butterflies, including rare small blues and dingy skippers, has appeared on land that was barren wheatfields just two years ago. The speed with which nature has bounced back at Halnaker Hill farm in West Sussex has surprised experts after 133 hectares (330 acres) of intensively farmed land were turned into a commercial nature restoration project. The farm’s relatively unproductive soils on the South Downs were cropped for wheat for 40 years, but after a final harvest in 2024 the arable land was sown with a special wildflower mix. Seven kilometres of hedgerows have been planted, seven hectares (17 acres) of new woodland created, three ponds dug and 54 hectares (133 acres) of herbal leys seeded, with carefully controlled mob-grazing on existing chalk grassland to improve its wildlife and biodiversity. Halnaker Hill Natural Capital is a commercial nature restoration project that derives its income from selling biodiversity net gain (BNG) credits, which enable houses to be built in the wider region. Under BNG rules, developers are legally obliged to deliver an increase in nature on new housing estates or by buying credits for nature restoration elsewhere. The independent ecologist Neil Hulme, who has advised Halnaker Hill...

Halnaker Hill Farm has recorded thousands of butterflies including the small blue and dingy skipper.

Two nationally-important butterfly species, recognised as valuable environmental indicators, have been recorded for the first time at Halnaker Hill Farm in the South Downs National Park. Surveys…

Halnaker Hill Farm has recorded thousands of butterflies including the small blue and dingy skipper.