County wide 2023 results reflect the worse affects of the 2022 and  2023 spring drought with Small Tortoiseshell and peacock nearly halved against their 5 year average. Red Admiral arriving in force in July took advantage of soft nettle growth of teh rains and had their best year ever. Drought sensitive species on thin soils were badly hit,  particularly Dark -green Fritillary and Northern Brown Argus but also Ringlet, Green-viened White and Small Heath.  Less drought affected species along with the hottest June on record built even more on gains last year leading to Comma, Holly Blue and  most Browns  having a fantastic year reaching all time highs. A increase of 9% ioverall was mostly due to sheer numbers of Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers ment 2023 nearly pipped 2014 as best year in modern times.  Most noticeable was the large differeces between mositure retaining mineral soils of the valleys and thin, dry limestone or sandy soils. A large number of damp grassland, hedgerow and woodland  dominated sites benefitted hugely with 3 sites seeing more than 50% increase . A smaller number of thin, chalky, sandy or craggy sites did badly some down up to 25%.