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Making the connections - joining up the downland habitats in the Cerne Abbas Valley

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The Cerne Valley team –  click on image to enlarge it

February 16th 2017: The EuCAN Cerne Valley Conservation team have spent the last four Thursdays clearing thorn, gorse and bramble in the Cerne Abbas valley to link up several beautiful sections of downland north of the famous Cerne Giant which were previously separated by blocks of overgrown scrub. This will enable scarce butterfly species like the Marsh Fritillary, Duke of Burgundy and several blue species to move more easily between these areas of suitable habitat. In May we plan to do a butterfly and wildflower survey to see which butterflies use these bits of the Cerne downs.

1. Connecting up the Cerne downland habitats - before

The area above the hamlet of Minterne Parva as we started the day

2. Connecting up the Cerne downland habitats - after

and after we had finished the day’s work