PREVIEW

Meet The Hairy Hungarian Hogs Helping Save An Endangered British Butterfly. Conservationists racing to save the UK's most endangered butterfly have some unusual allies - a hairy breed of Hungarian pig. Staff at wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation are teaming up with the curly-haired Mangalitsa pigs at a National Trust site on Exmoor to create the perfect habitat for the High Brown Fritillary butterfly. Since 1978, this pretty orange insect with black chequered wings has declined by 65% in population and 87% in distribution across the UK. It is now found in just three locations in England, one of which is the sun-bathed Heddon Valley near Barnstaple. The south-facing bracken-covered slopes offer ideal breeding conditions for the High Brown but high-growing trees and shrubs quickly take over the habitat. Butterfly Conservation is using the Hungarian breed shaggy swine and English Longhorn cattle owned by the National Trust to act as living lawnmowers trampling down the aggressive growth and eating foliage to create space for the tiny, delicate Common Dog-violets which are the High Brown caterpillars' sole food source. The High Brown Fritillary has a wing span up to 67mm - among the biggest in the UK. Its distinctive caterpillars, covered in spikes, are perfectly camouflaged in dry brown leaf litter in April and May, while the showy adults appear in June and July. Butterfly Conservation has identified 10 other National Trust sites where new colonies of butterfly could establish, but it urgently needs donations to plan landscape restoration.