UK Butterfly Emergency Declared

[David Lazarus]

If you haven’t seen the news this morning, fewest butterfly sightings during the Butterfly Count this year.

https://butterfly-conservation.org/news ... y-declared

[David M]

Unsurprising, David. Numbers have been spectacularly low throughout the year.

In nearly 3 hours at the most nectar-rich site around for miles yesterday, I saw just 33 butterflies (normally I'd be well into the hundreds).

Those statistics have been largely reflected everywhere I've been in the UK this year.

[Jack Harrison]

Not so in this part of Scotland. This is my 80th season with Peacocks. I have never known such huge numbers. As I look out the window right now, even though the white buddleia is still in shade, three Peacocks.

In early August, Small Whites were in enormous numbers.

Maybe summers in the north are more suitable these days.

I'm going to Orkney at the weekend for a few days. I don't expect to see many butterflies there but you never know. The main 'targfet' is Hen Harrier, now sadly depleted at he hands of 'enlightened' land owners (except on some of the islands)

Jack

[bugboy]

Whilst not pouring scorn on the project or results I think we should be careful on how the results are interpreted. I'm certainly not suggesting that it's wrong to suggest this year has been very poor but its also telling to see the average seen in a 15 minute window last year is only 12, suggesting a large portion of these surveys are conducted in already butterfly deficient places.

I'd be more interested in what this year's UKBMS transect results tell us which still have a few weeks to go as these will give us a much broader and more accurate picture of the year. The Big Butterfly Count is good up to a point. By its very nature it can only focus on a small sample size of species and the season and its primary aim is to get Joe public interested in butterflies in the first place rather than to give an accurate picture of what's happening.

On balance it's probably a good thing to shout about a butterfly emergency to get it in the press, even though we've been in one long before 2024 happened.

[millerd]

I'm with Paul all the way here. I've always felt that the Big Butterfly Count was of little use in gathering meaningful statistics but had value in highlighting the overall plight of insects in the UK - butterflies are popular, attractive and (mostly) readily identifiable, and therefore an excellent way of drawing public attention. I suspect a "Big Wasp Count" wouldn't have quite the same impact.

It would be interesting (though statistically no more valid) to carry out similar exercises at other times of the year - one right now might provide fascinating data (as Jack points out). From personal monitoring of my own local area, a snapshot comparison between 12th September 2022, 11th September 2023 and 11th September 2024 is also worth looking at:

12/9/22: 26C and 4 hours of sunshine - 16 butterflies of 8 species
11/9/23: 27C and 10 hours of sunshine - 80 butterflies of 13 species
11/9/24: 17C and 8 hours of sunshine - 132 butterflies of 14 species

This makes 2024 by far the best of the last three years for this date.

Statistics - to be treated with the utmost caution!

Dave

[David M]

..Maybe summers in the north are more suitable these days...

They're certainly warmer, Jack, as too is autumn. I was reading that several places in the northern half of Scotland have just recorded record temperatures for September. In fact, Kinlochewe in Wester Ross was the hottest part of the UK on Wednesday at 25.5C, about as warm as the Spanish city of Valencia.