2015 Butterfly winners and losers

[David M]

I'm not quite sure what to make of 2015.

I'm aware the south east of England has had a decent summer, but ours in south Wales has been most disappointing. There have been no sustained warm, sunny periods between late April and early September, and even when we've had isolated nice days, temperatures have defiantly refused to go beyond 22c.

Overall, I think it has been a poor year for butterflies, as my list of 'losers' far exceeds my list of 'winners'. Anyway, here goes with the main ones:

Winners

Holly Blue

This beautiful little insect has been a regular sight on my travels, especially during August. I'd say spring numbers were fairly normal but they have certainly enjoyed a particularly strong second brood. The downside to this, I suppose, is that they'll be thin on the ground in 2016, in keeping with their recognised parasitoid fluctuations.

Painted Lady

Whilst not strictly a 'Painted Lady year', 2015 has nonetheless seen fair quantities of this species. After seeing my first in early June, they cropped up in small numbers almost everywhere I went and got into double figures at the Pembrokeshire Brown Hairstreak site during the latter half of August.

Speckled Wood

Again, like Holly Blue, this species was more numerous than normal during late summer/early autumn. This was surprising because if anything I thought numbers in spring were lower than usual, and subsequent weather conditions didn't do a great deal to precipitate an increased second emergence.

Hedge Brown

Not seen in notably larger numbers than usual, but my instinct tells me that they've had a decent year. They also lasted till later in the season than they normally do.

Losers

Green Veined White

I was alarmed at how few I saw in August and September. They were practically absent. You'd think after a cool, damp summer that they'd emerge in good numbers but they didn't, and I can't understand why.

Small Heath

Is it just me or was this species thin on the ground in 2015? Even at Crymlyn Burrows on the Swansea coast they only appeared in the twenties and thirties. Previously, I've seen 100+.

Small Copper

I wonder whether Hoggers has granted them all asylum at Dungeness! They've had quite a poor showing for me in 2015, and I've probably seen no more than 60-odd all year.

Dingy Skipper

Except for decent numbers encountered at Rodborough Common in late May, I've hardly seen this species at all this year. They're fairly common round my neck of the woods if you know where to look, but at best they were appearing in ones, twos and threes.

[Goldie M]

Hi! David, 2015 was not too kind to us either, I saw one Female Orange Tip and that was at Gait Barrows, none at Hall-Lee-Brook where as last year there were dozens, same with the GVW, I've to sort my year out yet but they and also the Copper's were missing from there this year. Goldie

[kevling]

David,

Like your good self, the most notable winner for me this year is the Holly Blue. I have never seen so many as I have in 2015 with the most notable location for me being Hadleigh Country Park, Essex.
Another winner from my experience was the Large White, which outnumbered Small and Green Vein by at least 10:1.

On the losers side, I personally had a poor year for Small Tortoiseshell (certainly compared with 2013/2014).

Kind Regards Kev

[Jack Harrison]

Regional effects and some species might become more numerous in the north as numbers decrease in the south.

Here in north of Scotland, the big winners have been Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell and certainly give no cause for concern here. Red Admiral still flying even today but can't say how numerous this normally is in this part of the world.

GV Whites first brood (when I was living on Mull) very much down on previous few years. Can't recall seeing any second brood here near Nairn where I now live (thought I saw one but mistaken identity for a very tatty Small White). Graylings and Common Blue good on the dunes late July/early August along the coast but again no idea how numbers compared with normal.

Jack

[kevling]

Well what can I say, I've just had a Small Tortoiseshell in my garden at the end of October

Kind Regards Kev

[David M]

This weekend could provide an unseasonably late bonanza!

Make the most of it, as temperatures probably won't reach 17c again till the latter end of March 2016!

[Jack Harrison]

David M

temperatures probably won't reach 17c again till the latter end of March 2016!

They probably will exceed that in the Moray micro-climate. But the trouble here is that although the climate (and habitat) seems to be perfectly suitable for the likes of White Admiral, Marbled White, it is too far from existing localities in the south where such species do occur. "Southern species" can survive in this area - Small Blue and Dingy Skipper are good examples and Comma will surely be here soon. This suggests that climate isn't the issue: it's getting here that is the problem.

Jack

[David M]

Aah, the Foehn effect, Jack.

You must tell us what it's like when you finally get to experience it!

[Allan.W.]

My butterfly winners,for 2015 are Holly Blue,of which I saw only about 3-4 in 2014,but saw several at a time on quite a few occasions in 2015
including 8-9 along an ivy covered wall at Reculver (Kent) ,and was lucky enough to see a couple of laying females at close quarters.I also found them in ones or twos in quite a few of the woods we visited this year,some were seen where we,d never recorded them before. Common Blue,was another winner for me and I spent a fair few evenings finding roosting Common,s and also looking for "blue" females,of which I saw more this year than any other, in places where we,d only seen one or two in previous years we,d see 20-30+ on many occasions,the last winner for me down here in Kent was the Silver-washed Frit; in the early 80,s you,d be very lucky to see SWF ,down here in Kent although they were hanging on here and there in very small numbers,but this season I saw them in double figures,on 4 occasions ,best count 25 in just over an hour,(still haven,t found a "Valesina" though !),an absolute joy to observe.
The losers, well, we didn,t see too many Orange tips this year,and the ones that were about ,didn,t hang about for long. And we didn,t see the numbers of White Admiral,that we,ve seen in previous years. Regards Allan.W.

[millerd]

Thinking only about my local patch here just west of Heathrow, Holly Blues were good, especially in the first brood, - but they were pretty good last year as well. Common Blues and Brown Argus had a good year too, popping up in new areas. On the down side, Small Heaths were less numerous than usual, and there weren't as many Commas about. Summer GVW took a bit of a nose-dive too.

Still a chance of a few more Red Admirals I should think - the forecast locally has maximum temperatures between 14 and 17 degrees for the next ten days, and a bit of sunshine here and there too. Not as good as 2014, though - on Hallowe'en last year it was nearly 24 degrees

Dave

[NickMorgan]

It is interesting to read about the differences across the country.
Here in southern Scotland we had a similar summer to David M's description in Wales. Dull and cool sums it up pretty well. What had the bigger impact on butterfly numbers, I think, was the weather towards the end of 2014.
We had very low numbers of Large, Small and Green-veined Whites in the spring because I think the caterpillars did so badly the previous year. Orange Tip numbers were around normal, but of course they were caterpillars much earlier in 2014 when the weather was fine.
Similarly, after a bumper crop of Speckled Woods in 2014 the numbers this spring were very disappointing.
Despite the poor weather the butterflies seemed to do OK this summer, though, so the second brood of Whites was back up to normal, with there being loads of Green-veined Whites around.
It is difficult to compare losers and winners, as we don't have some of the species David mentioned. However, it was a noticeably good year for Meadow Browns and Common Blues. We also had an invasion of Red Admirals in July which went on to produce a large numbers later in the year. Painted Ladies didn't do particularly well, though.

[Jack Harrison]

A winner for me when I arrived here in the countryside to the south of Nairn was Ringlet. It had never crossed my mind that they might be minor rarity here. Ringlet was the first species I saw here (near Lethen Bridge).

In late July, Common Blues were in very good numbers on Findhorn Dunes but they might always be numerous there; I don't know yet.

I came across a tiny colony of Small Whites near Nairn on 1st October otherwise none seen.

Large Whites seemingly don't occur here as inspection of Nasturtiums - a favourite larval food in the south - showed no signs of having been eaten

[David M]

...the second brood of Whites was back up to normal, with there being loads of Green-veined Whites around.

Really? That's a surprise as they were virtually absent here in south Wales. I'm struggling to work this out given that our respective 'patches' both saw cool and largely damp conditions during the summer.

[IAC]

Yes, it has been all very localised indeed. Believe this or not, Wall Brown were the biggest mover and shaker in the Butterfly counts for East Berwickshire. And when I say East Berwickshire, as local as that sounds. I do mean only certain areas of the Berwickshire coast. Numbers in August were biblical for the species. I counted over 200 along a miles worth of coastline and I was pegging at a fair pace. The Walls beat the Green Veins hands down into 3rd place. No surprise that Meadow Brown and Ringlet won out again. The Whites had shocker this season bar the Orange Tip, as Nick Morgan said did pretty normally.

[peterc]

Interesting to compare records from different areas in the country. As for my transect in Stevenage, total numbers fell from 1885 in 2014 to 1674 this year.

The big winners:

Small Skipper 85 (48)
Essex Skipper 90 (16)
Holly Blue 17 (1)
Large and Small White fared moderately well but last year was poor

The losers:

Brimstone 6 (28)
Green-veined White 13 (36)
Peacock 60 (100)
Comma 15 (22)
Speckled Wood 113 (193) - the first brood was particularly weak
Gatekeeper 107 (151)
Ringlet 114 (364) - probably due to loss of suitable habitat

ATB

Peter

[Roger Gibbons]

This was just released yesterday:
http://butterfly-conservation.org/48-10 ... flies.html

Roger

[NickMorgan]

...the second brood of Whites was back up to normal, with there being loads of Green-veined Whites around.

Really? That's a surprise as they were virtually absent here in south Wales. I'm struggling to work this out given that our respective 'patches' both saw cool and largely damp conditions during the summer.

David, you had me checking my records again. It was about the middle of August that numbers of Green-veined Whites picked up from ones and twos earlier in the year to 23 and 43 seen on local walks. I always associate GVWs with damper areas. On my transect any white seen in the park is usually a Small White, but when I get to the river the majority are GVWs. Maybe they were effected less by the weather?

[David M]

David, you had me checking my records again. It was about the middle of August that numbers of Green-veined Whites picked up from ones and twos earlier in the year to 23 and 43 seen on local walks. I always associate GVWs with damper areas. On my transect any white seen in the park is usually a Small White, but when I get to the river the majority are GVWs. Maybe they were effected less by the weather?

The 'ones and twos' of early August never translated into greater numbers later in the month. In all my life, I've never seen such a paucity of GVWs in late summer, even though, like you, my part of the country saw largely cool and damp conditions.

By contrast, Ringlets did rather well, which one would expect given that nowhere became dry and desiccated in south Wales in 2015.

[essexbuzzard]

For me both locally and on my travels mostly to southern England.

The stand-out winner for me was the Holly Blue. I have never seen such a brilliant second emergence!

But,perhaps due to the weather,there were far more loosers.

Adonis Blues. A slight improvement on last year,but still a poor showing.
Migrants. A few Clouded Yellows were about in August,but Painted Ladies and,unusurally,Red admirals were almost absent.
Small Tortoiseshell. After a couple of good years,numbers plumeted. I wonder if the early summer brood went straight into hibernation,due to bad weather,can they do that? instead of producing a second generation.

David,i don't think many places had good weather this summer. Even here,often the warmer corner of the country, temperatures struggled to get above 15C on some days in July. Remarkably,some days this December have been milder!

[Essex Bertie]

Small Tortoiseshell. After a couple of good years,numbers plumeted. I wonder if the early summer brood went straight into hibernation,due to bad weather,can they do that? instead of producing a second generation.

I had the same thought, EB - was it more of a 'Northern' year? There were only 2 second brood Small Tortoiseshells recorded on over 40 transects in Essex. But I suspect Sturmia bella is more likely and the Peacocks were down again after recent improvements.
I thought Meadow Browns were down, but they had done well for about 3 years.

Holly Blue went barmy, as you say. Small Heath had a better summer.

Cheers
Rob