Do rare species deserve priority?
The international conservation community sometimes despairs at the parochial British attitude to wildlife. Internationally rare species and habitats, if rare because of man, deserve the highest priority (Anon. 1994): without help, such species and habitats will be lost globally and forever. By contrast, the loss of a species from the northern end of its climatic range in Europe is a problem mainly for a few geneticists who could study similar issues elsewhere. Indeed, such species may be unnaturally widespread since man cleared the forests. This dilemma is worse since many species may not be locally rare. This is epitomised by the peculiar situation in a reserve in England where grassland is being grazed with the intention of encouraging blue butterflies, at the expense of one of the country’s largest populations of Crested Newts, Triturus cristatus. The newts would much prefer long damp grass. Blue butterflies (and that other popular group, the grassland orchids) are abundant in Europ
