17th April 2026
Balnagown to Host Visit from Small Blue Conference
This May sees Balnagown Estate hosting a visit from attendees to the UHI Small Blue Conference. The Small Blue Project is part of the Species on the Edge Programme that brings eight nature conservation charities together to tackle biodiversity loss.
15th May 2026
How to Attend
The conference will be held on the UHI campus in Inverness on 15th May 2026 and will include talks from the Small Blue expert and author, Mike Slater, as well as volunteer Geoff Ballinger, updates from project officers, and a site visit to Ballchraggan Wood, part of Balnagown Estate.
The conference is part of a larger strategy by Species on the Edge to ensure that local communities are involved in the decision-making process as well as providing a forum for the exchange of information and ideas.
There are a limited number of spaces available to members of the public, so if you are interested in joining us for the day please email, Tracy Munro at [email protected]
UK’s smallest butterfly
The Small Blue Butterfly
One of 37 rare and vulnerable species being focused on by the Species on the Edge Project, the Small Blue (Cupido minimus), is a Palearctic butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is also the UK’s smallest butterfly with a wingspan of only 18mm-25mm and is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981 and the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework.
The estate has been working with Butterfly Conservation Scotland (BCS) since 2020 and in 2022, having secured funding from the Highland Council’s Nature Restoration Fund, embarked upon habitat improvement works for the Small Blue located in Ballchraggan wood, a 300 acre woodland that sits alongside the core estate and was formerly known as Logie Quarry.
The project was so well regarded that it was nominated for a Scottish Land and Estate’s, ‘Helping it Happen’ award.
Habitat Restoration
In order to ensure that the species was given every chance Balnagown and BCS undertook various improvement measures which included hand and mechanical removal of encroaching saplings, opening up of wide paths between breeding site, and the use of livestock to provide a non-mechanical solution to ensure vegetation was kept low thus allowing the butterflies’ chosen food source, the kidney vetch, to thrive.
In response to such efforts last year saw an explosion in the Small Blue population at the Ballchraggan Wood with volunteer Richard Aspinall able to count 523 Small Blues in an hour and a half. Balnagown was quite delighted with the numbers found especially in light of the fact that last year also saw the lowest butterfly numbers overall in the UK. The project was so well regarded that it was nominated for a Scottish Land and Estate’s, ‘Helping it Happen’ award however was runner up amongst some tough competition.
Ongoing Conservation
Balnagown will continue to manage the woods keeping conservation and public access as its main priorities whilst continuing to harvest sand, timber and stone in small amounts for estate use. Users of the area can be reassured that although work does take place it will be managed sensitively and in line with the estates continuous cover forestry policy.
