If there’s one thing the UK is really good at, it’s saving its butterflies. The Butterfly Conservation program in the UK is the world’s largest conservation organization dedicated to saving rare and endangered insects. And recently, thanks to the efforts of UK farmers, the country’s rarest butterfly has been saved.

The Duke of Burgundy Butterfly Is UK’s Rarest

The famous insect was named after a posh aristocrat from a faraway land, and ten years ago, if you were in the UK, you could only find this species in the North York Moors and the southern Lake District. The population of this butterfly experienced a significant drop of nearly 46% in the ‘90s and ‘00s which made it the rarest species in the UK at the time. However, thanks to the Butterfly Conservation organization and the efforts of many landowners, things are looking up.

A Massive Conservation Effort

Back in 2011, the Butterfly Conservation launched the Dukes on the Edge program that focused on restoring 23 hectares of habitat, providing management advice for more than 147 sites where the Duke butterflies are found, and getting over 1,000 volunteers to help carry the conservation effort. Both local citizens and land owners joined the program, and as a result, the population of this species has grown by 25% in the last decade.

A Promising Outcome

The recovery of the Duke was solidified when a butterfly enthusiast found the largest single colony in the UK. Tucked away on the hills of a dairy farm, the colony was the result of the efforts of a farmer who has proudly been supporting the habitat for over two decades. The good news is that the Duke butterfly is no longer the UK’s rarest, and the Butterfly Conservation organization continues to save dying species at maximum speed. They even convinced the UK government to include butterflies and moths as formal biodiversity indicators.

As a master Latvian violinist, Gidon Kremer, performed Chaconne by Bach and Preludes to a Lost Time by Weinberg, his audience was captivated – and rewarded him with a standing ovation. However, this wasn’t a typical performance in a lavish concert hall. It was held at a gymnasium at British Columbia and attended solely by inmates.

The 72-year-old violinist said that he was deeply touched by just how enthusiastic and attentive the inmates were as an audience.

How the Event Was Organized

The concert that took place in the Pacific Institution in Abbotsford was put together by the Looking at the Stars Foundation. This charitable organization is based in Toronto and was founded by a Lithuanian refugee, Dimitri Kanovich.

Specializing in organizing such performances for audiences that can’t access music halls and theaters, the foundation managed to host 37 similar performances in over 15 Canadian prisons throughout the span of four years. To ensure safety, the inmates were thoroughly searched by guards and a sniffing dog and received a heartfelt welcome from Kanovich himself.

How the Audience Felt About the Violinist

During the performance that lasted an hour, the audience was enamored and listened attentively as Kremer played classical pieces on his 379-year-old Amati violin. Once the performance was done, the inmates had time to ask the violinist a few questions. They were interested in hearing his thoughts about famous composers, who his antique violin used to belong to, how old he was when he began playing, and much more.

The inmates expressed their gratitude for his heartwarming performance, which ended with a standing ovation.

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, with the help of their president, Angela Elster, was a production partner for the event. The Orchestra plans to work with Corrections Canada on starting a program that will reunite inmates with instruments they used to play, encouraging their love of music to persevere and grow. The master violinist, Kremer, was happy that he had the opportunity to perform for this audience and believes that music can give warmth to anyone facing difficult times.