Nature: Conservation team reintroduces rare butterfly to Wales

Natural Resources Wales rejected Rob’s original project proposal in 2016, which he felt was “a sign of where nature conservation is or was at”.

“A lot of it has been protecting what we’ve already got, monitoring and doing science, research and so on,” he added.

This changed when he resubmitted plans in 2019.

Liz Halliwell from NRW said she understood the role reintroduction could play, but it had to be considered against other options.

“This is one tool in a toolbox of things that we need for species recovery,” she said.

“We need to look first at the causes of the things that have made that species decline or go extinct.

“It’s that balancing act of saying ‘it’s important, let’s do it properly’.”