Butterflies and conservation headlands.

Abstract

Conservation headlands are the outermost 6m of cereal fields which have selectively reduced pesticide inputs.
Over a five-year period, consistently more butterflies were found in field margins which had conservation headlands compared with field margins with equivalent habitat parameters but which had their 'headlands' sprayed in the same manner as the rest of the field.
Comparisons of the trends of some butterflies at the study farm with those from National Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (NBMS) sites in the same region suggest that some 'sedentary' species of butterfly may be increasing in incidence at the study farm against the trends at the NBMS sites.
Observations of butterfly behaviour indicate increased nectaring of some species in field margins incorporating conservation headlands.