Rare butterflies bounce back after landowners in Wales cut back on flailing hedges

Areas such as the Tywi valley in Wales saw populations of brown hairstreak almost disappear due to mechanical flailing of hedgerows and scrub. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Record numbers of eggs of the rare brown hairstreak butterfly have been found in south-west Wales after landowners stopped flailing hedges every year.

The butterfly lays its eggs on blackthorn every summer. But when land managers and farmers mechanically cut hedges every autumn, thousands of the eggs are unknowingly destroyed.