IT hardly needs saying, but this summer hasn’t been the best for butterflies. Although large parts of June and July were actually dry, the general lack of sunshine and a miserable August have seriously affected the fortunes of many species.
All this week, BBC-1 has been running a series to mark the 40th anniversary of the charity Butterfly Conservation with Matthew Oates from the National Trust touring the country looking at how the insects are surviving.
Predictably, the news is not good. He said: “Overall it has been a dreadful year, probably the worst in my 45-year experience.
“Weather conditions have a major impact on the fortunes of butterflies and British species really need a good year next year.
Butterflies are very fragile and they succumb to heavy rain and strong winds. Next year’s butterflies are this year’s baby caterpillars. It may well be that very heavy rain washes off eggs, and in particular young caterpillars, or they contract diseases.”
Mr Oates maintains that several bad years in a row could lead to localised extinctions of small colonies of butterflies.
He said: “The last two summers have been blighted by rain and wind that seriously affected their fortunes across the UK.”
However, two species – familiar pests in the eyes of many gardeners, wouldn’t you just know – have had a fantastic year.
Both the large and small cabbage whites have apparently thrived in the wet summers. Experts put this down to the failure, or lack of use, of pesticides by gardeners.
So what’s been going on in Worcestershire?
A call to Worcestershire Wildlife Trust brought reports from three of its top butterfly sites.
At Monk Wood, Sinton Green, near Worcester, Terry Higgins, butterfly transect recorder, said: “Overall it has been a mixed year with some disappointments and the weather must have contributed. Wood Whites have been in single figures and there is real concern there, though we have to wait until next year to see the effect of all the clearance work we did last winter.
Skippers, especially the small variety, have been thin on the ground and there not many purple hairstreaks to be seen. “On the more positive side, white admiral numbers have held up well, red admirals too, and the browns were there in considerable numbers on certain sunny days.
Peacocks, as everywhere, have enjoyed a very good second brood this month and there were plenty in Monk Wood. In contrast, small tortoiseshells were almost totally absent. They have suffered a catastrophic decline nationally in recent years.”
At the Knapp and Papermill reserve at Alfrick, near Malvern, Garth Lowe said: “Numbers are generally down. Meadow browns seem to be less.
Previous counts required a clicker to record numbers because there were so many, but we were able to count individually this year.
Ringlets, purple hairstreaks, white admiral and marbled white were all seen, but some only in ones and twos.”
Finally, at Lower Smite Farm, Hindlip, near Worcester, the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust’s headquarters, the poor weather has meant very few butterflies have been seen on the wing. The buddleia, usually alive with butterflies, has had a few peacocks, but no small tortoiseshells. There was a good early emergence of gatekeepers, but only a single painted lady and a few commas.
All in all, not too good.
Let’s pray it’s fine in 2009.
OUR TOP FIVE BUTTERFLIES: HOW THEY HAVE COPED WITH THE YEAR’S UNSEASONAL WEATHER
The UK’s famous five butterflies have had mixed fortunes this year:
The large blue butterfly was reintroduced after become extinct in the 1970s. Early indications are that it had a good year at the National Trust’s Collard Hill in Somerset, one of the sites where it is found.
Both large and small cabbage white butterflies – familiar pests in the eyes of many gardeners – have had a fantastic year, apparently thriving in wet summers.
However, this could also be due to the failure, or lack of use of pesticides, by gardeners.
The high brown fritillary is the fastest declining butterfly in Britain. Like many butterflies which fly in July, it was badly hit by the storms which struck on Sunday, July 6 and subsequent deluges.
The swallowtail butterfly – the country’s largest – has also had a bad year, probably due to the wet July in 2007 killing off young caterpillars.
The purple emperor butterfly spends most of its time living high in the treetops, but occasionally it does come down to ground level where it has the unsavoury habit of feeding on fluids from carrion and dung instead of nectar. It had a good start to the year but strong winds in early July seriously deplete
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