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KATE MARTIN: Hello and welcome
to the National Trust Podcast.

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In this mini episode, we'll be
meeting Sabine Nouvert, a

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National Trust ranger in
Beddgelert who's working hard on

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a rather unusual project...
Conserving seaside butterflies

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in inland Wales.

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SABINE NOUVERT: We've just
entered Hafod Garregog Nature

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Reserve. It's pretty boggy, so
watch your step. So we're going

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to walk through it and I'll take
you to a spot where I normally

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count the butterflies in July
and August. And I get to tell

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you why they're such a special
species.

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Some of us in the team here
would call this, the Jewel in

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the Snowdonia Portfolio for
National Trust. It's really one

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of our favourite spots. That's
because of the wildlife that's

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found here, but also because of
all of the plants and the

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landscape. So we have like the
famous mountains around us in

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the, in the background and then
closer is all the oak woodland.

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And then this mosaic of bogs and
you just feel like you're in the

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middle of a, like a, a
naturalist candy store or

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something.

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Where we are is like, it's a
mixture of bog with a special

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bush that grows in the bog
called Bog Myrtle. And then in

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the bog, there's all these hills
of, covered in heather and

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scattered birch and oak trees
and, and this spot used to be,

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it was coastal, in the olden
days and then about 105 years

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ago or something like that. They
built a cob wall, closer to the

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sea and they've claimed all of
this land. So we're now inland.

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But a good 100 years ago, this
would have been a coastal site.

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We would be on the shore. So
we're standing on like a a rocky

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hill and so we would have been,
we would have been on the shore.

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The Silver Studded Blues are
tiny, little small blue

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butterfly and they've got a
really pretty a lacy white edge

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to the under underside of their
wings with a very intricate

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pattern on the underside of its
wings that looks a bit like a

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white lacy edge to it.

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Well, the silver studded blue
butterflies are very important

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in the UK. They're red data book
species. So that means they're

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endangered. So what's unique
about the population that we

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have here is that they're
inland. We think that this

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population is, is a remnant
population from when this was a

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coastal site.

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It's a bit deep here. Be
careful.

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Basically, the butterflies need
the bog which has lots of

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different plants flowering and
the butterflies feed on the

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nectar from all those flowers in
the summer and when they've done

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that, they can then lay their
eggs on the dry hills on the

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heather. And so they need the
bog for the nectar and they need

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the dry hills to lay their eggs.

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Meanwhile, the bog is at threat
of getting overgrown with bushes

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and tall grasses. So us, as land
managers, we've brought in cows

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to graze the bog and they do a
really good job at that. That

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means we've got lots of flowers
for the butterflies in the bog.

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The problem is that they go up
on the dry hills to rest and

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then they trample the eggs and
the grubs of the butterfly. So

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they can cause a lot of damage
to the butterfly population just

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by trampling their eggs even
though they're benefiting them

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by maintaining the flower rich
bog. And we have to find a

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balance. It's just this
complicated balance of getting

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the bog in good condition with
the cattle grazing and, and the

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whole habitat for the
butterflies in good condition.

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So it's, it's just a tricky
balance that you're always

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manipulating and playing with.

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KATE MARTIN: Thanks for
listening to this week's

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National Trust mini episode. In
next week's mini, we'll be

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hearing the tale of two dragons
who you may encounter on a walk

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around one of Beddgelert's
accessible paths.