Letter to Banverket 1993-05-03

Butterfly, take our sorrow away

in a time of armoured wounds.

Let your flight chase our heaviness

to the night that remains.

Entice the bright skies of June

to a shimmering false joy

as your intoxication renews its lustre

in a profoundly transformed city.

Wind that combs our meadows

as one combs grey hair,

spare still the asters' beds,

tend still summer's traces.

Where you move roses burst open,

the last poppies burn out,

lifting fleetingly in the end

a chalice of silk cloth.

While evil fools' mockery

crashes through green years

the image of the grave fills with joy

him who reaches his powerlessness in silence.

Butterfly, light spirit of weight,

heal the melancholy that destroys

while time is at hand,

before morphine's wing dies.

Grass's last venetian blinds

whisper together and strike

and from cabbage and celery

autumn's frozen snail emerges;

drags itself away as a burden

at the crumbling death's command

in a field where meadow fragrances

have fled from summer's fallen raiment.

Let your lyre's sound ring forth

imitated by an enraptured boy

who from late years wants to swing

the echo back to your meadow

which has seen your butterfly's summer

that you sent to a shadowed hall

where your memory blooms eternally

in a profoundly transformed valley.

Harry Martinson

---

GÄVLE/UPPSALA 3 May 1993

GÄSTRIKLANDS
ENTOMOLOGISKA
FÖRENING

Banverket
Mellersta Regionen
Box 487
801 05 Gävle

Regarding the planning of a new railway line between Älvkarleby and Gävle concerning, among other things, the insect fauna of the area.

According to information that has come to our attention, one of the alternatives for locating the new railway southeast of Gävle, alternative 4, is a proposed double-track routing from Järvsta, past Grinduga and further immediately west of Lake Trösken.

This area is nationally renowned for its high natural values, perhaps mainly botanical ones. In addition, the area is also known to harbour certain very rare and threatened insect species. In this compilation, only butterflies are presented because knowledge of these is somewhat better than for other invertebrate groups in the area. Butterflies, apart from their intrinsic value, also have great value as indicator species. In an area with rich and interesting butterfly fauna, one can assume that there are also numerous other threatened insects which, from a broader perspective, are valuable for the preservation of biological diversity.

The Grinduga–Trösken area together with the Älvkarleby area constitutes, for Swedish conditions, a unique transition zone between northern, southern and eastern fauna. Here, several species, now threatened, associated with the cultural landscapes of Central Norrland have their southernmost occurrence. At the same time, the area serves as a refuge for several south-eastern species that are disappearing from Scandinavia. Since these latter species occur in only a few places in the country, Sweden has an international responsibility according to the Bern Convention for the preservation of these northern populations.

The most protection-worthy area lies south of Trösken and just east of Grinduga. Many of the most threatened species are associated with the wetlands that are directly affected by the planned railway routing. A cursory review of what is known from the relevant area has yielded 23 butterfly species mentioned in "Red-listed Invertebrates in Sweden". Three of these are classified in threat category 2 (vulnerable). The remaining species are classified as requiring consideration (18) or rare (3). Since the area is relatively poorly studied, especially in recent years (see below), the following list probably shows only the tip of an iceberg. Such a comprehensive concentration of protection-worthy species in such a small area is completely unique for northern Sweden.

From several perspectives, it can be questioned whether the relevant area for the railway line according to alternative 4, with its unique combination of calcareous moraine and seepage wetlands, does not even exceed in protection value the areas along Dalälven that are planned to be included in the new national park. According to reports, the natural values along Dalälven have prevented all planning of railway construction in that area. It would be somewhat of an anticlimax if this decision were now to result in the unique limestone area south of Trösken, with its particularly sensitive groundwater conditions, being sacrificed instead. The undersigned hope that Banverket will take the consequences of the information presented about the significant natural values occurring within the area and choose one of the other alternative proposals for the location of the railway.

## The Butterfly Fauna within the Grinduga–Trösken Area.

Although the area has long been known to harbour a number of species of national interest, the fauna within the area is very poorly studied. Reasonably complete information exists only about diurnal large butterflies, but most of the records are from before 1975. The reason for this is that the most interesting area south of Trösken is no longer open to vehicle traffic. Few insect experts have visited the area since the roads there were blocked with gates. Particular inventory of nocturnal insects requires quite substantial equipment, which is why our information about these animals is incomplete. The following list should therefore be regarded as examples of the species that exist within this unique area and not as an exhaustive inventory. The majority of the fauna is probably still unknown. Many animals that have been found in single specimens in, for example, Grinduga or Mårtsbo should, judging by the occurrence of their host plants, have their main localities within the gated area. Our records refer only to finds made in the area south and southwest of Lake Trösken.

The report is based on the systematics, nomenclature and numbering of species in the latest Catalogus Lepidopterorum Sueciae (Svensson et al 1987). Swedish names are given according to Svensson and Palmqvist 1990. Only species included in the newly published list of "Red-listed Invertebrates in Sweden" (Ehnström et al 1993) are treated. Many other species may also have strong regional interest, for example some animals that have their northernmost known occurrences here. Threat categories: 1 = Acutely threatened, 2 = Vulnerable, 3 = Rare, 4 = Requiring consideration.

## Species List

202 Scardia polypori (Giant fungus moth) (Threat class 4). The species lives on tree fungi which in turn are associated with dead wood. This means the species is disappearing in all areas with so-called rational forestry.

274 Caloptilia leucapennella (Sulphur-barred leafroller) (Threat class 4). The larva lives on oak and the species has its northernmost known occurrence in the area.

548 Agonopterix astrantiae (Sanicel flat-body) (Threat class 4). The species occurs only where the host plant Sanicula europaea is found.

1115 Archips crataegana (Hawthorn summer tortrix) (Threat class 3). The species lives on various shrubs of the rose family. One of the country's most remarkably northernmost finds of the species was made within the area in 1990.

1686 Apomyelois bistriatella (Layer dynemoth) (Threat class 4). The species is associated with the rare tree fungus Daldinia concentrica.

1098 Lamellocossus terebra (Small wood leopard) (Threat class 4). The larva lives in fungus-attacked, usually old, aspens. The species therefore occurs only in areas with relatively much undisturbed aspen.

1873 Zygaena osterodensis (Narrow-bordered five-spot burnet) (Threat class 2). Has one of the strongest populations in Sweden in this area. It is bound to forest meadows with Lathyrus pratensis and montanus and has been found at many localities in the region. The earliest known records in the area are from the early 1950s (Östlund 1954) and the latest known record is from 1992. The species is considered extinct at most of its former localities in Sweden and now occurs elsewhere only at a few coastal localities in eastern Småland.

1875 Zygaena viciae (Vetch burnet) (Threat class 4). A classical meadow species dependent on hay meadows and grazed pastures. It has declined sharply in large parts of Sweden but has been found within the area as recently as 1989.

1878 Zygaena lonicerae (Broad-bordered bee hawk-moth) (Threat class 4). Similar habitat requirements to the preceding species. Within the area it has decreased in numbers but has been found at several localities during the 1990s.

1885 Pyrgus alveus (Grizzled skipper) (Threat class 4). Still numerous at several localities and scattered throughout the area. Last found in 1992. In the rest of Sweden it is in sharp decline. Stable populations in the rest of Sweden exist only on Gotland.

1954 Melitaea diamina (Meadow fritillary) (Threat class 4). The species lives on moist meadowland and in association with rich fens. Host plants Melampyrum, Plantago, Veronica and others. Last found in 1992.

1956 Mellicta britomartis (Assmann's fritillary) (Threat class 2) was previously abundant at several localities within the area. The latest known record is from the mid-1970s. The species is, however, very local throughout its entire range and has not been searched for in recent years. The species now occurs in northwestern Europe only at a few localities in eastern Småland.

1959 Euphydryas aurinia (Marsh fritillary) (Threat class 2) was last found within the area in the early 1950s (Östlund 1954). The species lives on moist meadowland and the edges of rich fens. Despite its name, the larva lives above all on Succisa pratense, but Plantago, Veronica and others have also been mentioned as host plants. Since the species is local and no one has searched for it for many years, it may still remain in the area.

2007 Glaucopsyche alexis (Common banded blue) (Threat class 4) is both scattered and abundant in the region, with the latest record year being 1992.

1995 Lycaena helle (Violet copper) (Threat class 4) has been reported to "occur in large numbers south of Grinduga". This only known observation from the relevant area is from the 1970s, but since the animal is difficult to detect and many suitable biotopes exist in the area, the species may still have a population here.

2016 Aricia nicias (Donzel's blue) (Threat class 4). We know many older observations, found for example in numbers in 1974. Since the species' localities are still intact, the species should still exist in the area. The species is currently declining dramatically throughout its range in lower Norrland.

2207 Perizoma sagittata (Arrowhead carpet) (Threat class 4). The species lives on Thalictrum flavum which has many good growing sites in the area. It has been found singly at several different localities within the area, most recently in 1992.

2320 Hypoxystis pluviaria (Pointed-winged wave) (Threat class 4). Is very local. The species lives on Filipendula ulmaria and has its richest Swedish localities within the area and in adjoining parts of Uppland. Latest known record from 1990.

2454 Clostera anachoreta (Black-marked prominent) (Threat class 4). The species is at home in old aspen stands. Occasional finds within the area.