Our Grassland Flagship Species
9 June 2025
We are into our final Flagship species category – our Grassland species! And first up, we have the Marbled White Butterfly…
You’ll find this beauty on our chalk grasslands from June to August, feeding on purple flowers in particular, like knapweed and scabious. You can spot Marbled Whites by their unusual flight pattern, that is a combination of fluttering and gliding. Now is the time to head out to spot them, so let us know if you see any this summer!
Marbled White Butterfly – Photo by Jim Higham
Our next Grassland flagship species is the much loved Skylark.
The Skylark is almost certainly a bird that you will hear before you will spot them, with their excited, wittering call heard loudly from the skies above grasslands in Spring and Summer months.
If you’re lucky enough to spot one in flight, you might notice how they fly directly up into the air – this is their display flight during mating season. If you see them on the ground, then you might notice their brown plumage, and little head crest, which they raise when they are alarmed.
Skylarks are ground-nesters, which makes them vulnerable to both predators, but also to disturbance from human activity. Since they are now a red-listed species, protecting our grasslands and known nesting sites is the best way we can support these little songsters.
Skylark – Photo By Jim Higham
Next up is the Red-Tailed Bumblebee.
Red-Tailed Bumblebees are pretty common, so you stand a good chance of spotting one in the summer months. And whilst they take advantage of our grasslands for foraging, you can also spot them in gardens, woodland edges and hedgerows – wherever there are flowers for them to forage!
The Red-Tailed Bumblebee is so called because of its red “tail”, which looks striking against its black body. The female is much larger than the male. These bees are social, and seek out nesting sites in old walls and rodent burrows to build colonies in. At the end of summer, all the bees die except for new queens, who find a sheltered spot to hibernate, ready to start a new colony in the spring.
Red-Tailed Bumblebee – Photo by The Wildlife Trusts
And finally, our Grassland flagship species winner – the Brown Hare!
Brown Hares aren’t just your average bunny – they are much larger than rabbits, with long black-tipped ears, and a slightly more gangly-look to them, with long powerful hind legs. In fact, they are so powerful, that hares can reach speeds of up to 45mph when they are trying to escape predators. And unlike rabbits, hares don’t dig burrows – instead, they take shelter in depressions in the ground, known as “forms”.
You can spot hares on our grasslands and farmlands all year round, but they really make their presence known in the early Spring, when they can be spotted boxing out in the open. Whilst you may think this is 2 males vying for a female, it’s more likely to be a female fending off a male!
Brown Hare – Photo by Jim Higham
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