Two years after the wheat, 5,290 butterflies have moved onto a West Sussex farm

Two years ago, Halnaker Hill Farm in the South Downs was 330 acres (133 hectares) of intensively farmed wheatfields. Then came wildflower seed, 7 kilometres of new hedgerows, woodland and ponds. This summer's surveys, led by butterfly expert Neil Hulme, counted 5,290 individual butterflies across 28 species — including 85 Small Blues and 7 Dingy Skippers, two nationally important species never before recorded on the farm, plus 547 Small Heaths and rare Sulphur Pearl moths. 'These data clearly indicate how rapidly and spectacularly the habitat has developed,' Hulme says. The project sells biodiversity credits to fund the work — proof, says the National Park's Nick Heasman, that nature bounces back 'given space, time, and love.'

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: market force