Whilst walking on a heathland you may see some small brown butterflies jostling around. You may dismiss them as dull or boring, but little may you know this is an incredibly rare species, a red listed species, the Grayling (Hipparchia semele).

This butterfly has suffered massive declines in recent years and has sought out shelter on our coasts or heathlands. In Surrey it has found refuge on our magnificent lowland heath habitats, and this is why we need you.

Working in partnership with the Heathland Connections project, we want to survey Graylings with citizen scientists, to help us understand their distribution and potentially allow us to find suitable new habitats or connect existing habitats together.

Since 1976 the Grayling has declined by 72%, not as huge a decline as other species like the Nightingale have endured, but still a staggering figure. Graylings suffer from populations becoming isolated and if we do not start to connect some habitats or improve them, populations will head to extinction quickly.

Why do they like the Heathland? Well, it is because a lot of fine grasses they depend on to complete their lifecycle are found here. Furthermore, this species enjoys bathing in the sun, so any habitat with lots of bare ground is important for them.  This explains why it is so important to also maintain the areas they already exist in through periodic scrub clearance, because if that bare ground scrubs over, then the Grayling will no longer be able to bask.

The aim of the Citizen Science project is to record Graylings but also start to investigate the quality of the habitat, for example to check if the food plants they need for breeding are present. We will also look at the ratio of male to female butterflies to help understand the viability of breeding populations.

To make the job of surveying easier, we will concentrate our gaze on bare ground in favourable areas for Grayling. We also hope to discover potential pathways for the Grayling to use to move between sites; better connectivity will help to keep the gene pool of the species more diverse and therefore healthier.

Although the Grayling is our target species, the outcomes of this citizen science work will also benefit a range of heathland species including butterflies and reptiles across the whole partnership.

Become a citizen scientist

Are you interested in helping us survey for Graylings in your spare time? Email daniel.banks@surreywt.org.uk for a link to our short training video and simple surveying app.

Daniel Banks
Citizen Science Officer, Surrey Wildlife Trust