Brighton wildlife artist wins award for conservation work

Sussex Wildlife Trust has chosen Jamie Burston, from Hollingbury, as the inaugural winner of the David Streeter Award.

An award ceremony took place at the Trust’s annual meeting on Saturday, November 9 at the Shoreham Centre.

The award recognises his work in conserving the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly which is becoming increasingly rare due to the loss of trees to Dutch Elm Disease because White-letter Hairstreak caterpillars feed on elms.

Jamie said: “I was surprised and honoured to be the first recipient of the award. This project was only possible due to collaboration and I would like to thank the many people who supported and worked with me to plant disease-resistant elm trees across Sussex.”

As the winner, Jamie was awarded with £250 in gift vouchers, which he said he will redeem with the Natural History Book Service.

Chairman of the award committee, Dr Alan Stewart, said: “We were extremely impressed with Jamie’s dedication to this vulnerable species and his achievements in working with schools, obtaining funding, and planting so many elm trees to support the habitat of this rare butterfly.”

The award was created in 2017 in honour of David Streeter MBE, a founding member of the Sussex Wildlife Trust and retired University of Sussex academic in ecology.

David spent much of his career encouraging young people to take an interest in natural history and the award honours a young person making an outstanding contribution to nature conservation in Sussex.

Find out more about the work of Sussex Wildlife Trust at its website.