The Big Butterfly Count 2016

The 2016 Big Butterfly Count has just published its results. According to the Big Butterfly Count 2016 Results page, 36,400 people carried out 38,233 15-minute counts from July the 15th to August the 7th.

Holly Blue, 25 July 2016.

Considering just the counts I did in our own garden:

• 2014: 10 counts, 10 species of butterfly, 66 individual butterflies
• 2015: 12 counts, 13 species of butterfly, 108 butterflies as well as some moths
• 2016: 10 counts, 8 species of butterfly, 61 butterflies and a 6-spot burnet moth.

So this year's count was lower than previous years.  It seems that others had the same experience.  The results page says:

The average number of individual insects of the 20 target species seen per 15 minute count during big butterfly count 2016 was the lowest recorded since the project began in 2010.

Large White, 25 July 2016.

In my garden, nearly half the butterflies I counted were large whites. This species was slightly more numerous than last year, whereas numbers of the others had dropped dramatically.

Butterflies recorded during 12 counts in our Uckfield garden.

In 2015, gatekeepers had been the most numerous butterfly in both: my counts (47 individuals) and nationally. However this year this species had tumbled to a miserable 4th in both.  I've certainly missed seeing them dancing in our front gateway.

Speckled Wood, 31 July 2016.

On the other hand another dancer, the Speckled Wood, did really well in my 2016 counts - it came joint second with the Meadow Brown. I counted 11 individuals this year, compared to 2 last year. The national count recorded a small (12%) increase.

Red Admiral, 21 July.

Sadly, most of the big colourful butterflies were missing from our garden counts this year. No Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells or Commas - all of which I counted in 2014 and 2015. We did have 3 Red Admirals - but that compares to  8 last year and 4 in 2014. Nationally numbers were up a by 70%.

An Guardian article on the Big Butterfly Count says:

“The drop in butterfly numbers this summer has been a shock,” said Richard Fox of Butterfly Conservation. “When we have cold, wet summers, as in 2012, we expect butterfly populations to plummet, but that wasn’t the case this year."

“The summer months were warmer than usual, yet most Big Butterfly Count participants saw fewer butterflies. Perhaps the very mild winter had a negative effect, or the cold spring, or perhaps the impacts of intensive farming and pesticides are really hitting these common species now.”

We can only hope for better next year.

Rooks in the fading light

On the 22nd of August 2015, I spent a lovely hour in our garden experiencing the light fading away and the creatures of the day finding their way home.  I counted rooks as they flew past our house to their roost - probably Lime Tree Avenue. When I started, at 7:30pm on the sky was still blue sprinkled with little white clouds.  A gentle pink glow on the horizon was the only clue that the day was ending.  Half a dozen house martins had just wheeled overhead and a red admiral paid a last visit to our buddleia.  Tiny hints of yellow showed that the cigar-shaped evening primrose buds had just started to unroll.

In half-an-hour clouds turned from white to slate.

For the first quarter hour, there was just a trickle of rooks.  By 8pm, the trickle had turned into a flood. One group of birds was about 40 strong and they flew over too fast to count properly.

One group of rooks.

As a dragonfly feasted on evening insects, the flood slackened. By 8:20pm, they had all gone. I had counted about 400 rooks past our house in less than an hour.

When the rooks passed our house.

During that hour, the light had nearly gone, moths had started to fly and the evening primrose flowers had opened. So much had changed in such as short time.

Evening primrose flower.

Red Arrows, Devils and Admirals over Uckfield

What a summer it has been for aerial wonders.  In just a few weeks we have had an amazing series of flypasts by aircraft of all sorts. Closer to the ground, birds and tiny insects have been joining the display too.

Belgian Red Devils over Manor Park, Uckfield

On July the 26th the Belgian Red Devils display team flew over Uckfield to mark the unveiling of the memorial to Eugene Seghers. While I waited for them in the garden I enjoyed watching the butterflies, which I had been counting for the big butterfly count, fluttering round our flowers. 

Emperor dragonfly - similar to the one seen in our garden.

As we moved into August, we were honoured by almost daily visits by an emperor. It flew in glittering circles for several minutes at a time, bobbing and dipping as it hunted its prey.  Anything that escaped the attentions of the dragonfly and was still flying at dusk may well have ended up as a meal for the bats that fluttered and swooped round our front garden.

Hoverfly (Volucella Inanis) on our Marjoram

While I was waiting for the Red arrows team to come over, I was entertained by colourful hoverflies buzzing round our flowers.  I’ve been looking at them more closely this year and have identified 10 different species – and those are just the ones that are big and slow enough for me to get a photo.

The Red Arrows - not a great photo but I was pleased to get a camera on them at all.

Towards the end of the some days, swifts screamed overhead. Apparently they never stop flying, not even in sleep.  As summer drifts into autumn, these summer visitors have started their long migration to Africa.

Comma butterfly - a sign that autumn is on its way?

After the wonderful, idiosyncratic procession of aircraft coming away from Shoreham at the end of August, we start to see V’s of geese flying to and from their feeding grounds. Newly minted red admirals and colourful commas herald the coming of autumn.

The Big Butterfly Count 2014

It's not often that I get an excuse for wandering round the garden for quarter of an hour but the Big Butterfly Count gave me one. Between the 19th of July and the 10th of August, people all over the country counted butterflies for periods of 15 minutes. This fine example of citizen science is backed by The Butterfly Conservation people. This year’s results can be found on the web site.  

I did 10 counts in our Uckfield garden. Here is my top five countdown ...

At number 5, the Small Tortoiseshells. There were just 3 in my counts but, as a Guardian article explains, their numbers have been very low over the last few years and have recovered due to the wet weather earlier in the year, which boosted the nettles that feed their caterpillars.

Small Tortoiseshell on a dahlia.

We have a joint number 4 this week, with 4 sightings each: Red Admiral and the Ringlets. The Red Admiral was probably the first butterfly I became aware of as a child, as it visited the asters and buddleia in our London garden. I’ve only become aware of the Ringlet this year. The open wings are the colour of fine dark chocolate and it was only when I started looking at the butterflies properly for the count that I realised that they were not Meadow Browns.

Ringlet

At number 3, with 11 records, Large Whites appeared to dance around the garden.  Lovely to see but, in previous years, their caterpillars have wreaked havoc by chomping through nasturtium leaves.

At number 2, with 14 sightings, modest Meadow Browns fluttered round marjoram during the earlier weeks of the count.

Finally, in the lead with 24 sightings, orange and brown Gatekeepers, seemed to explode from beneath my feet almost every time I walked across our shaggy grass.

Gatekeeper

We have had a super variety of butterflies in the garden this year.  This chart shows the totals from my 10 counts.

Sadly there are some absences such as Holly Blue and Small Copper. We can only hope that they’ll be back another year.

Lambs

Just over a month ago, it all started kicking off in the garden. Now spring seems to be full swing.  The gardens are blazing with daffodils, primroses and all sorts of other spring flowers.  Blackthorn is out and pink blossom is everywhere.
 

Watercolour of spring flowers.

A fox or two has visited most nights and we have had another visit from the badger. We have had all sorts of butterflies including peacock, small tortoiseshell, yellow brimstone, comma and red admirals.

Best of all, while driving round the Uckfield bypass this morning, I saw lambs. Spring really is here.

Sketch of ewe and lambs.