SIR David Attenborough has described Dorset as a "potential butterfly paradise."

Speaking at the launch of Save Our Butterflies Week, Sir David said South Wessex and the Purbeck Downs were among 20 British locations where populations could thrive.

He made the comment at London's Natural History Museum as he outlined a new national strategy designed to halt the decline in Britain's butterfly numbers. Sir David said: "Almost unbelievably, much of Britain's countryside is a no-go area for many favourite butterflies and habitats have been ploughed up or become overgrown.

"Anybody who's been for a country walk recently will tell you butterflies are a rarity and scientists fear that in some areas we're entering a post-butterfly era."

He went on to say Dorset is one of only 20 places in Britain that could become a "potential butterfly paradise". The repopulation strategy will be run by the charity Butterfly Conservation, of which Sir David is president.

Butterfly Conservation's honorary Dorset branch president, Brian Dicker, said: "It's not just here in Dorset that butterflies are vanishing, it's right across Europe.

"Butterfly habitats have been destroyed by changes in farming and forestry practices - and projected forecasts of mounting pressures on food and bio-fuel production will not help.

"Butterfly conservation reserves, of which Dorset's Lankham Bottom is one, provide an ideal habitat for butterflies and moths but small colonies are vulnerable.

"This new re-population strategy, of providing habitats on a landscape scale for butterfly populations, will allow them to spread their wings and establish new colonies. However, several species are in decline and some are in a serious decline."

A full list of events, including moth trapping demonstrations, can be viewed at Butterfly Conservation's Dorset branch website www.dorsetbutterflies.com