Rare butterfly population increases by 9000%

"They're an indicator species. Butterflies act as a flagship for smaller insects. When [a population] recovers, it tells you you're getting something right."

— Dr Dan Hoare , Academic

"It's helping the farmer by diversifying their income. It's helping the environment by not putting loads of fertiliser to grow food where it doesn't want to grow."

— Dr Dan Hoare , Academic

"Individual species are the building blocks of ecosystems."

— Dr Dan Hoare , Academic

"For us, this is a really symbolic story."

— Dr Dan Hoare , Academic

"When we first started counting the Duke of Burgundy in the 1990s we usually counted fewer than 50 butterflies all year. This incredible increase in recent years is entirely down to our fantastic partnership work with Natural England, farmers and volunteers to create high-quality habitat, and it absolutely proves that good conservation work can save rare species."

— Rebecca Levey , Activist