Brenton Blue should flutter by soon

By Athane Scholtz Garden Route Reporter

THE threatened Brenton Blue butterfly is being re-introduced into Nature’s Valley in a historic pilot project that will increase the insect’s survival.

Knysna lepidopterist David Edge released larvae of the Brenton Blue Orachrysops niobe (Trimen) in the rehabilitated Nature’s Valley Fynbos Reserve in the Garden Route village near Plettenberg Bay at the weekend.

Nature’s Valley Trust co-ordinator Julie Carlisle said the butterfly had naturally occurred in the area but disappeared during increased building activities in the 1970s and 80s.

“The trust identified a piece of unused municipal land and obtained permission for controlled burning in an attempt to revive the fynbos that originally grew in the area.

“Among the successful regrowth was sufficient amounts of Indigofera erecta Thunberg – the only plant from which the Brenton Blue caterpillar feeds.

“It was also important that the caterpillars’ symbiotic partner, the Camponotus baynei, ant, was present on the reserve and near the host plant.”

Carlisle said the habitat was finally ready for the butterfly’s re-introduction. The Green Trust had also agreed to provide funding for the project.

Edge, who is currently completing his doctorate on the ecology of the Brenton Blue butterfly with the University of North West, reintroduced three captive reared larvae (harvested from the Brenton Blue Butterfly Reserve near Knysna) as a pilot project.

“If successful, we will see the butterflies in November. Whether the pilot project works or not, we will release another 20 to 30 caterpillars on to host plants at the end of the year – which will hopefully have turned into butterflies by February next year.”

Edge said the project was of particular importance because it would prove that habitat could be reclaimed and restored.

“With rapid development, particularly on the Garden Route, much motivation for development had been based on the premises that land had already been destroyed by agriculture and forestry, and could just as well be used for development. This project proves the original seed of the region is still present and dormant it is just up to those in authority to vote in favour of conservation, reclamation and restoration,” he said.

The project is also of importance for the long-term survival of the species as its only other natural occurrence is in the Brenton Blue Butterfly Reserve near Knysna.

The reserve was declared in July 2003 after a successful campaign against a housing development that would have rendered the butterfly extinct.

Edge, who had been part of the high-profile campaign led by researcher Ernest Pringle, said there were concerns about the long-term survival of the species if it persisted only in one place.

“Chance events such as extreme weather or an untimely fire could wipe out the colony.