Together with private landowners and the Austria State Forestry (ÖBF), the Austrian team visited potential habitats in Lungau, a district of Salzburg.
The landowners were very interested in the project and the whole team, especially butterfly expert Otto Feldner was able to describe convincingly which measures were necessary to improve sites to habitats for butterflies. These are for example removal of bushes and small trees, replanting of foodplants and hostplants and controlled grazing for some weeks with sheep and goats to keep the habitats open and prevent them from overgrowing.
With only small actions these sites will be very promising habitats for the Apollo butterfly.
Not only P. apollo will benefit
Suitable habitats in Muhrtal and Tweng were found for P.arnassius apollo and for other butterfly species like Euphydryas sp., Erebia sp. or Lycenidae. The team could already observe some caterpillars and butterflies of different species, so hopefully, populations will profit quickly from the planned habitat measures. In accordance with the landowners the first steps will start this summer. The whole project is very happy about those successful steps and looking forward to the first actions!
