As if we didn't know

[JohnR]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildli ... flies.html

Obviously the summary of last Saturday's National BC Recorders Meeting but I can't find a BC press release.

[Mark Colvin]

Here it is ...

http://butterfly-conservation.org/48-36 ... flies.html

[David M]

This actually got a mention on the 7 o'clock news on Radio 2 as I drove to work this morning.

Right now, things are looking even worse as this cold spell looks likely to last well into April.

Another dreadful year could put some species beyond the point of no return.

All thanks to global 'warming', eh?

[NickB]

This actually got a mention on the 7 o'clock news on Radio 2 as I drove to work this morning.
Right now, things are looking even worse as this cold spell looks likely to last well into April.
Another dreadful year could put some species beyond the point of no return.
All thanks to global 'warming', eh?

Yes - I do share those concerns too. Particularly for our Black Hairstreak populations, which are fragmented and quite small.
In Cambridge, the average temperature for March so far is just 2.5C - about 4C less than average.
Sunshine has been a miserable 41.6 hours compared to 99.8 hours in 2011 and 141.6 in 2012.
As long-term weather patterns change, they exhibit more chaotic and unpredictable behaviour - as we have seen in the last 10 years or so.
Often, these periods are followed quite quickly by more stable, but quite different, conditions as a new equilibrium is found.
Let us hope that they flip back to what we and our butterflies can cope with....