Excitement over butterfly spotted at nature site

A butterfly survey at a town's nature site threw up an unexpected and exciting find, organisers have said.

Middlesbrough Environment City found 10 butterfly species at its 22 acre plot on the former Nature's World site in Acklam.

They included an Essex Skipper, a predominantly southern species rarely spotted as far north as Teesside.

"We were very excited when we we saw it," the charity's project manager for environmental development Jodie Sawbridge said.

The Essex Skipper is similar to the Common Skipper and it was only by closely observing pictures taken by volunteer Jordan Protano-Byrne that they were able to confirm the sighting.

Sawbridge said: "The only thing that tells it apart from the Small Skipper is that its antennae, right at the top of them, it looks like they've been dipped in black ink.

"Because it's quite a small butterfly it was really really difficult to spot."

Among the species identified during the survey were the Green-veined White, Peacock, Speckled Wood and Holly Blue butterflies.

Sawbridge said the charity wanted to increase biodiversity on the site, which is next to a community allotment where food is grown using regenerative farming.

She said: "What we're doing is trying to improve the soil health, so we're trying to promote pollinators like butterflies and bees by planting lots of flowers that they like.

"We're trying not to disturb all the creatures that live in the soil - it's all organic."

She said the charity was grateful for volunteers who gave their time up for the survey, which helped the charity establish what work it still needed to do.

"We rely on volunteers so much for what we do, so whenever we get someone who's willing to give some time to doing anything like this it's really appreciated - the more we share this knowledge the more we all learn which is great."

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