Scottish Golf Courses Contribute To
Ecological Success Story On Ayrshire Coast
After a 33-year absence, a widescale environmental and landscape enhancement project
involving nine golf courses along the Ayrshire coast has successfully reintroduced a
small but significant population of Small Blue butterflies to the south west of Scotland.
The Small Blue (Cupido minimus) is the
UK’s smallest resident butterfly. With a
wingspan often not exceeding 16mm,
its small size makes it vulnerable to
local climatic and habitat changes.
Although it is classed as not threatened,
the Small Blue’s status throughout the
UK is declining, with the main colonies
being located in the south of England
and northwest of Scotland where its
only food plant, Kidney Vetch, grows
within calcareous grasslands and
coastal sand dune systems.
Following a building boom in the
1970s and 1980s, the loss of key
wildflower habitats in Ayrshire meant
that the Small Blue was last seen in
the county in 1982. The Scottish
Wildlife Trust sought the help of the
Ayrshire Sustainability Group, which
is made up of nine golf courses plus a
number of local businesses and wildlife
organisations, to release a colony of the
butterflies at their Gailes Marsh Reserve
next to Dundonald Links. Key to the
project’s success was the establishment
of Kidney Vetch wildflowers at each of
the project’s locations, with the hope
being that the establishment of a semicontinuous corridor of these and other
native wild flower species would enable
the butterflies to re-colonise across its
former range.
66 Landscape & Urban Design
“Unfortunately, Kidney Vetch is a
short-lived and vulnerable wild flower
which responds poorly to competitor,
environmental and habitat pressures,”
explains Alistair Eccles, Technical
Sales Representative for Germinal in
Scotland. “The success of the project
therefore depended on using a source
of high quality Kidney Vetch seed
which could establish vigorously and
continue to thrive throughout the
newly established wildlife corridor. We
were therefore happy to contribute to
the project’s success by donating the
required Kidney Vetch seed which was
specially harvested for us in the UK.”
Following the original colony’s release
two years ago, the Small Blue remained
elusive, with no subsequent sightings
reported in the following 12 months.
“It was feared that the release colony
had simply died out,“ says the Small
Blue project’s manager, Gill Smart of
the Scottish Wildlife Trust. “However,
several sightings of the iconic butterfly
last summer, including at Dundonald
Links, have shown that the original
colony not only survived, but also
went on to produce two generations
of offspring which have successfully
dispersed along the Kidney Vetch
corridor from the original release site.”
The project has expanded to promote
wildflower corridors in general, beyond
where Small Blue could reach, and is
now named the Irvine to Girvan Nectar
Network (IGNN). This has been funded
for the last two years by The R&A which
has extended its support by committing
to the project for a further three years
(to March 2018) explains Jo Kingsbury
of RSPB, who manages Nectar Network
Projects for the Ayrshire Sustainability
Group.
“There are still a few gaps in the
Kidney Vetch corridor, but the funding
extension will enable us to build on
the success to date by creating more
habitats which bolster the corridor
and ensure the ongoing survival of
the Small Blue and other essential
pollinating insects.
“The project illustrates that golf courses
can be excellent havens for wildlife
and important links in green corridors
that facilitate wildlife movement.
As such, they all offer the potential
for environmental enhancement
and improved habitat connectivity.
The Ayrshire Sustainability Group
has created a legacy for subsequent
generations of greenkeepers to build on
and clearly demonstrates how working
together can successfully re-create
ecologically valuable environments.”