Thanks to a sunny spring, the population of a rare butterfly has nearly doubled in the English west country, The Guardian reported.

The heath fritillary butterfly, nicknamed the woodman's follower, is one of the U.K.'s rarest butterflies. The species nearly went extinct in the early 1980s, but targeted conservation efforts saved it from being wiped out. Both the National Trust and the nonprofit organization Butterfly Conservation have worked hard to foster ideal conditions for the species, and their efforts have paid off splendidly.

"We've recorded butterflies at several new sites, including areas where they haven't been seen since the 1990s," said Jenny Plackett, a conservation manager at Butterfly Conservation. "This kind of expansion is highly unusual and suggests that recent habitat management is working."

One successful approach that conservationists have deployed is using cattle to graze and trample selected areas, in order to make the plant life more accessible to caterpillars and butterflies. This, in addition to a particularly sunny spring, has led to a major surge in numbers. For example, one colonizing spot saw a staggering jump from four recorded butterflies in 2024 to 186 this year.

"It's wonderful to see such strong numbers," Plackett enthused.

Generally, it's always positive news when a native species — particularly a pollinator like this one — makes a rebound in population. Pollinators form the basis of a healthy food web; their activities in pollinating flowering plants and trees are responsible for approximately one third of all the food we eat.

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However, one ranger with the National Trust warned that there may be unforeseen impacts of this year's otherwise favorable weather conditions.

"The early emergence is a mixed blessing. If unsettled weather follows, it could cut short the butterfly's flight season and disrupt its life cycle," he warned. "It's a reminder of how delicately balanced nature is and how climate extremes can threaten even our most carefully managed landscapes."

Indeed, higher temperatures and extreme storms and droughts — all of which are traced back to human-driven emissions — have already been disrupting animal species around the globe, from changing migration patterns to delaying reproductive activity.

The success of these simple conservation efforts in sustaining species like the heath fritillary, however, provides encouraging evidence that conservation-focused interventions can protect vulnerable species from the worst impacts of these changes. And the sooner we can bring down our emissions, the more stable the future of all species will be.