Volunteers have discovered rare butterfly eggs in a wildflower meadow in Moredon.
The tiny spherical objects found on branches in Moredon Meadows adjacent to Nova Hreod Academy belong to the protected brown hairstreak butterfly.
Central Swindon North Parish Council shared the exciting find on Facebook, highlighting the importance of the town’s green spaces.
It said: “This confirmed breeding population indicates the importance of these wildflower meadows and the associated dense blackthorn hedgerows.
“The Brown Hairstreak is known only from a few landscapes, and this find, associated with a recent discovery at Mouldon Hill Country Park, provides a link to a population in North Wiltshire (Braydon Forest).”
It is a high conservation priority because numbers are in decline due to hedgerow removal and annual flailing, which takes off the eggs.
It is protected under several acts including the 2006 Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act, as well as the 1891 Wildlife and Countryside Act.
The Parish Council said it has resolved to manage this meadow and protect these and all butterfly species on site.
It added that councillors are committed to doing all they can to support the biodiversity of the parish’s meadowlands.
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