BBC News
By Giancarlo Rinaldi
Published
image captionThe pearl-bordered fritillary has seen a steady rise in numbers at Mabie Forest
A forest in the south of Scotland is seeing a rare butterfly thrive thanks to a surprising friend.
The distinctive Belted Galloway cattle are being used to help the pearl-bordered fritillary flourish.
The last full survey at Mabie Forest near Dumfries in 2019 found numbers had more than doubled on the previous year.
Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has been using a range of methods to help the local colony - including letting the heavy cattle in to graze.
image copyrightFLS
IN HER previous stint as a rural affairs minister, Ms Gougeon never shirked hands-on engagement - including this outing spraying off a giant hogweed infestation Crofters have greeted Scotland s new Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands with a to-do list. The Scottish Crofting Federation warned newly-appointed Mairi Gougeon that there is much to be done to protect crofting and the island economies it underpins. SCF chair Donald MacKinnon said: “We are pleased to see a strong cabinet appointed to lead Scotland, and welcome Mairi Gougeon as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands. We are, of course, sad to see Fergus Ewing go as a strong rapport builds up with time and he had a good feel for crofting. But we are confident that Ms Gougeon has the experience and capacity to get to know crofting and our islands and to take them into consideration in forming policy. We need to see all policy ‘croft-proofed’ and ‘island-proofed’ before it is enacted.