REVIEW OF 2014
Here is my short review of 2014,from an enirely personal perspective.
A good spring and summer,with long spells of fine weather,that somehow failed to produce a bumper crop of butterflies. After great abundance in 2013, most summer species droped back to average numbers this year. But after a run of poor springs,the weather relented this year, and spring species seemed to do much better.
While it was distinctly average in terms of butterfly numbers,for me it was an excellent year, and i saw and photographed 56 of the 59 British and Irish species. Good weather through most of the season was a great help in finding especially butterflies whose colonies are a long way from home. Only Chequered Skipper, Irish Wood White and Glanville Fritillary were missed. Meanwhile, Esther managed to chalk off a few lifers, missing only Irish Wood White and Black Hairstreak.
HILIGHTS
Hilights this year were my March trip to Gibraltar and Malaga,where Spanish Festoons and Provence Orangetips put on a cracking display,and lifers included Monarch,Green-stripe White and Black-eyed Blue. Sesing hundreds of Marsh Fritillaries in a field in Cornwall stands out,too,as do my short trips to northern England,the first for several years. It was great to see species like Northern Brown Argus, Mountain Ringlet, Scotch Argus and Large Heath again. And,as always,i love to see the Silver-spotted Skippers in late summer.
LOWLIGHTS
My continued inability to get a decent photo of one of the most abundant buterflies of all- the Purple Hairstreak!
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