No shrinking violets! Conservation charity aims to create purple patch with mass planting of 20,000 violets to satisfy particular tastes of rare butterfly - The National Trust

Across the Shropshire Hills this spring, the National Trust and many dedicated volunteers will start the mass planting of 20,000 marsh violets, the largest planting of its kind in the UK.

These delicate little plants are the favourite food of caterpillars of small pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies, and by planting more, it’s hoped to attract many more of these rare butterflies.

Led by the National Trust, and funded by the Natural England Species Recovery Programme, this ambitious planting is part of the Stepping Stones Project to restore habitat connectivity across the whole landscape and create a sustainable home for not only small pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies but also willow tits, hazel dormice and otters. The National Trust is working closely with Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Natural England and the Shropshire Hills National Landscape Partnership, along with various landowners.

To give these butterflies a helping hand, volunteers are planting out the first ‘clumps’ of marsh violets this spring, with the rest to follow in the autumn. Approximately 50 plug plants are being planted together in 1x1m squares, creating 400 separate areas for the violets to thrive.

The selected sites are close to where small pearl-bordered fritillaries have already been spotted, but where there are currently too few violets for the caterpillars to feed upon. In these wetter areas of the Shropshire Hills, it’s hoped by seriously ramping up the numbers of marsh violets for caterpillars of small pearl-bordered fritillaries, and improving the rush pasture for the adult butterflies, their future will be secured.

Caroline Uff, Ecological Consultant to the National Trust, said: “Currently, these striking butterflies are hanging on in fragmented colonies. Through this new mass planting and habitat restoration the plan is to give these butterflies the space to move and flourish. New areas could start to re-colonise within a couple of years."