Professor Byron Morgan, Emeritus Professor of Statistics at the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science, has appeared on KMTV to discuss the conservation of the rare Heath Fritillary butterfly.
The butterfly is one of the rarest of its species, and has been spotted in Victory Woods, Whitstable following conservation work by the Woodland Trust. Butterfly enthusiasts hope that the population can continue to grow in the area.
Professor Morgan explains that the Heath Fritillary butterfly can only be found in Kent, Essex and Exmoor, as it thrives in very specific environments. These specialist conditions mean that the butterfly is very vulnerable.
Professor Morgan says that conservationists are keen for the public to get involved: ‘There’s been a great increase in ‘citizen science’, where ordinary people – Like myself and my wife, for example – can go out in the woods with a notepad and just make a record of what we’ve seen. We can then enter that information on iRecord and the people in butterfly conservation can log those data’
The full segment is available to watch on the KMTV website, from 39’16”:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kmtv/video/kent-tonight-monday-5th-july-2021-34796/