Butterfly Recovery projects in macclesfield

The Brimstone is a vibrant yellow butterfly, sightings of which are often the first signs of spring in the UK.  The Brimstone butterfly has an exclusive relationship with just one plant - the Alder Buckthorn - on which it must lay its eggs to provide food for its growing caterpillars.

The Brimstone Buddy project is about increasing the amount of available food and nectar plants for these beautiful butterflies.  Macc Wild are planting Alder Buckthorn on sites across Macclesfield to help increase Brimstone numbers.

We are incorporating Alder Buckthorn into all of our planting schemes and also delivering the Brimstone Buddy project in a number of primary schools in Macclesfield. We started with 4 schools in 2024, another 4 in 2025 and have worked with another 4 schools this year!  The children learn about the Brimstone lifecycle during a special assembly and then plant Alder Buckthorn in the school grounds. On a return visit in early summer, we will help the children look for Brimstone caterpillars on their trees and discover the exciting world of moths through a moth trap brought in to school.

We had some great success since 2024 with brimstone butterflies - and most importantly eggs and caterpillars recorded at each of the schools.

We have worked with the following schools in Macclesfield area:

• St Alban’s Catholic Primary School
• Christ the King Catholic and Church of England Primary School
• Upton Priory School
• Rainow Primary School
• Whirley Primary School
• Gawsworth Primary School
• Parkroyal Community School
• St John the Evangelist CofE Primary School
• Hollinhey Primary School
• Marlborough Primary School
• Hurdsfield Community Primary School
• Ash Grove Academy

Watch this space for updates on our 2027 schools program.

The elusive White-Letter Hairstreak is another butterfly with a critical relationship with a particular foodplant, breeding on a number of species of Elm Tree. Unfortunately since the 1970s when Dutch Elm Disease (DED) became prevalent, many Elm trees have been lost. 

In the Macclesfield area, Wych Elm Ulmus glabra once grew widely along the 11 mile long Middlewood Way. Some areas of Wych Elm remain, for example at Jackson’s Brickworks and within Poynton Coppice. However, numbers of the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly (WLH) has declined by more than 90%.

Elm trees have been planted over the last 3 seasons seasons and this planting will continue in future years to ensure a continuous supply of young elm and to create a corridor between existing Elms and White-letter Hairstreak colonies at Jackson’s Brickworks, Poynton Coppice and along the Middlewood Way itself, developing landscape-scale habitat suitable for the species. 

This is a Partnership Project led by Cheshire and Wirral Branch of Butterfly Conservation. Cheshire East Ranger Service, Macc Wild and Macclesfield Community Tree Nursery have helped to deliver this project along the Middlewood Way.

If you would like to find out more about the project please drop us a line and we will get back to you.  It is a long term project so plenty to do in the future!