Cheers Wurzel. It looks like Small Tortoisesehells are going into one of their periodic downturns, irrespective of differences around the country.
Looking back at 2024 part 3.
After the thunderstorms that brought an end to July, the first couple of days of August were warm and with all that moisture in the air it felt very humid. Around my local patch, the usual Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Speckled Wood and Small/Essex Skippers could be found in reasonable numbers along with a few Green-veined Whites and the odd Comma and Common Blue. Out of these, the Gatekeepers appeared to be doing the best but numbers were still not as high as had been in the past few years, they just seemed to be doing well in comparison to other species that were having a poor year around here.
On 4th August we went down to spend 5 days on The Lizard in Cornwall. From what the hosts at our B&B told us, it appeared that the weather down there had been similar to ours back home most of the time albeit a few degrees warmer which is usually the case. Like us they had seen some dramatic thunderstorms a few days earlier. During most of our our stay we saw a lot of cloud with some sunny breaks and also some stiff breezes, especially on the exposed sections of the coast path that I walked along, on both the east side of the peninsular between Cadgwith Cove and Poltescu and on the west side around Kynance Cove.
Red Admirals in particular looked to be doing well down there with multiples seen on every day, from right outside our B&B, all along the nearby lanes and everwhere along the coast paths.
- Red Admiral - The Lizard 05.08.2024
I only saw a couple of Painted Ladies down there and for the first time time ever since I have been visiting Cornwall, not a single Comma or Small Tortoiseshell.
- Painted Lady - Lizard Village 06.08.2024
The best weather we saw during our stay was on Tuesday 6th August when clear blue skies lasted for most of the day resulting in the warmest day of our stay. A visit to the undercliff areas to the south of Kynance Cove produced a dozen or more Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, both males and females in varying condition including some nice fresh examples.
- Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Kynance Cove 06.08.2024
I also found a few SPBF around Enys Head to the south of Poltescu, although I did not get chance to look elswewhere so I cannot really comment on how well they did down there this year.
Dark Green Fritillaries were still flying down there with a number seen around Kynance Cove, mostly worn and faded but one or two were not too bad looking.
- Dark Green Fritillary - Kynance Cove 06.08.204
I got the impression that Grayling were doing well with good numbers seen both around Enys Head and along the cliff tops around Kynance Cove.
- Grayling - Kynance Cove - 06.08.2024
Wall Browns also appeared to be doing well, appearing at a number of places around the coast paths.
- Wall Brown - Enys Head 07.08.2024
The most numerous species seen down on The Lizard were Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers, the former in particular were far more numerous than they had been back home.
Small Whites were also numerous with quite a few Large Whites also seen but I only found a single Green-veined White.
Common Blues appeared in most places down there but only in small numbers and nowhere near as numerous as I have seen there before.
- Common Blue female - Enys Head 07.08.2024
So far I had failed to see a Small Copper locally, or anywhere else for that matter, and I finally found the first one of the year by Kynance Cove.
Back home the following week it was back to low numbers with just a few Speckled wood, elderly Gatekeepers, a few Small and Large Whites and single Common and Holly Blue seen during another run of cool and mostly cloudy days.
The third week of August saw storm Lillian track across the country bringing an autumnal feel with lots of rain and strong winds. This set the tone for the rest of the month with lots of cool cloudy weather interspersed with occasional brighter spells. The later brood of Speckled Wood appeared to be doing reasonably well with some nice fresh examples now swelling the numbers but the only things now keeping them company around here were a few well faded Gatekeepers, Small Whites and Common Blues.
- Speckled Wood - Blythe Valley 29.08.2024
The beginning of September saw us heading down to Dorset for a few days to stop at a B&B that we had used before, on a farm located roughly half way between Corfe Castle and Kimmeridge Bay. Thunderstorms were forcast to be heading up from the south and I just had time for an hours stop off at Fontmell Down before they hit us. I failed to find any Silver-sptted Skippers there this time although apparently a few had been reported a few days before albeit only in smalll numbers. I did see second brood Adonis Blues in reasonable numbers though along with the usual Meadow Browns, Small Whites and Small Heath.
The next few days saw a mix of weather starting from a dull and drizzly Monday 2nd and then steadily improving up to Wednesday 4th which was the warmest day of our stay. We visited Durdle Country Park, Balllard Down, Osmington, Lulworth Cove/Bindon Hill and Durdle Door and saw a similar mix of species at most of these sites including Adonis Blue, Common Blue, Brown Argus, Large and Small White and Red Admiral, all of these in fairly good numbers although not as numerous as they were down here a few years ago.
- Large White - Lulworth Cove 04.09.2024
- Adonis Blue - Bindon Hill 04.09.2024
Brown Argus seemed to be doing well down there, certainly much better than back home where I had not found one yet. These are always hit and miss for me locally though and seem to be either boom or bust with this year being a bust.
- Brown Argus - Ballard Down 03.09.2024
Having missed Chalkhill Blue so far this year I was pleased to catch up with a few mostly worn and faded examples on Bindon Hill.
A single Small Copper was also seen on Bindon Hill, just the second one I had seen this year.
- Small Copper - Bindon Hill 04.09.2024
A few Graylings were still flying around Durdle Door but again I would have seen higher numbers there a few years back.
As with everywhere else I had been this year, the rank grass growth was very noticeable and no doubt contributed to some of these lower numbers, particularly of species with a second brood which would have found their foodplants suppressed by these more vigourous grasses.
Back home in the second week of September we went into a cold spell with a chilly wind and we saw our first couple of light frosts of the year. The 16th saw an improvement in the weather with my local spot at Wagon Lane producing a handful of Large and Small Whites, Speckled Wood, Comma, Red admiral and best of all a Small Copper, just my third this year and the first one locally.
The rest of September was more of the same with lots of cloud and chilly winds which took us into October. The last butterflies I saw were a couple of faded Speckled Wood and a Small White in the garden in the second week of October. No doubt I may have been able to find the odd butterfly after that, a random Speckled Wood or Red Admiral maybe, but with so much to do and the law of dimishing returns making it difficult to justify going far, my season was over. This is actually pretty much the normal time for me to finish here.
As I said at the beginning of part 1 of my looking back, this was a poor season for me. Despite this I managed to see 40 species although some of these were single individuals or in very small numbers.
The two species that did particularly badly around here were Small Tortoiseshell and Small Copper. As mentioned earlier, Small Tortoiseshell numbers were not too bad here in the spring but summer numbers crashed from the previous few years.
After a good year here last year, Small Coppers also crashed with just one seen locally and only a couple more seen elsewhere. I notice that they had a resurgence in those areas that enjoy a regular third brood but around here they only ever have a third brood in good seasons, and his year was far from one of those. Some other species that have a regular third brood in more favoured areas also seemed to do better later in the year.
I would not say that anything had a good season here, those species that appeared to do better (i.e. Gatekeeper, Ringlet) only appeared to do so in comparison with everything else having a poor year.
I am hoping that next year will be better but I cannot help but have some concerns about what the knock-on effects of this year will be.
Anyway, that completes my looking back at 2024.
Bye for now,
Neil.
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I found just looking through the cracking images after I'd read the text cheered me up a bit though 
