All Thing's Wild

Conservation Initiatives

Lost Fritillaries Project

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Elijah Ford

Conservation & Education Officer, All Things Wild

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At All Things Wild, we are proud to be the main partners in Butterfly Conservation UK’s ‘Lost Fritillaries Project’. This project aims to return the once-extinct Pearl-Bordered Fritillary back to the Malvern Hills, through breeding to release and through extensive habitat management.

We have 200 caterpillars on site, as well as over 400 Dog Violet plants, which we will use to feed the caterpillars before we release them onto our site in the Malvern Hills come springtime.

We have been helping over the winter to clear out space and plant Dog Violets at the release sites, turning them from bramble-covered hillsides to healthy, diverse bracken forests with plenty of Dog Violets for our butterflies to live off underneath.

The project has already seen success, with this year being the first where wild-hatched Fritillaries were observed, and now, as we have joined the project, we hope to assist Butterfly Conservation UK to take this project to new heights, not only to save the Pearl-Bordered Fritillary but also help provide the Malvern Hills with a brighter future!

This year, we are also establishing a volunteer programme to encourage locals to help us grow Dog Violets, which we will use to feed next year's caterpillars. In addition to this, we have also been nominated for the Great British Wildlife Restoration Award 2026 for our involvement in the project and we will be heading to Mr. Speaker’s house in January for the award presentation.