Probable silly question

[Deborah]

The huge area of meadow nearby has been alive with Meadow Browns, Ringlets, Gatekeepers, Skippers and Marbled Whites this last month although last week the numbers had been tailing off. Yesterday the meadow was cut. Does that mean that that whole generation of egg laying etc. is lost? Especially for those species that only fly once in the year? Sorry if the answer is so obvious that I know it already!

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Deborah. For most of the browns, they are probably ok, since their eggs are often laid low down and any larvae would fall from the foodplant when disturbed. Skippers are likely to be more affected, since some lay their eggs in grass sheaths (Essex Skippers overwinters as eggs, Small Skipper as 1st instar larvae in cocoons within the sheath), and others lay on the grass stems such as Large Skipper (which overwinter as 5th instar) etc. - and it depends on what has happened to the grass itself.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

I would add that I believe it matters how the grass is cut. At one of the places I lived in Switzerland, I had a grassy garden. In keeping with Swiss tradition, I had this machine-scythed (fauché) once a year, at the correct time, determined by the farmers (usually in July). The cut grass was then left a few days, then gathered into piles and finally collected, for hay. I believe the scything itself killed few caterpillars, and leaving the cut grass allowed those that remained to crawl off to living plants. Of course, any eggs attached to the grass or flowers would have been lost and probably eaten by cattle. Nevertheless, I had 64 species of butterfly in that garden, including a vibrant colony of tufted marbled skippers.

Guy

[Deborah]

Excellent. Thanks both. The grass gets cut once a year. This year it’s a month earlier than last. It gets left a couple of days, then is mixed and is finally baled for hay. Normally all takes about 5 days. It’s a lot of meadow/prairie (more than 100 huge bales) - damp especially in winter, with rush as well as various grasses as is in the bottom of a valley, and no good for crops.
When it used to be grazed there were Short-tailed Blues but unfortunately for the past few years they’ve disappeared. But it is still a good site.
Was a little concerned that the cutting time being different this year might have an adverse impact.