Canklow
Site Details:
Walker : Steve Branch Distance : 947m Altitude 68m Walk time 25 mins
This urban green space lies below Boston Castle and Urban Rotherham and the river Rother. It is bordered to the east and south by Canklow woods which is dominated by Oak and Birch is used by many dog walkers and for exercise, To teh west it is bordered by back gardens,
It is largely unmanaged and the somewhat dry, acidic unimproved grassalnd with a good variety of species
Sections:
S1 to S3 at the bottom of this shallow bank bordering houses and their gardens and tends to have the highest counts particularly of Gatekeeper, Large Skipper and Ringlets Flowering plants attract the Vanessids, S4 sees more birds foot trefoil and subsequently Common Blue and Small and Easses Skipper. S5 loops into scrubby woodland and Speckled woods appear alongside Ringlet in the shade. S6 and S& skirt the northern perimeter of scrubb and small trees and Meadow browns begin to be seen in more numbers. S8 and S9 follow down teh slope along teh southern boundary and and teh small skippers along with meadow browns and gatekeepr predominate,
Results 2024:
Countywide, after a warm winter April turned cold, very wet and dull and everything just about stopped and it was near impossible to transect walk all month. By May there were already losses among our spring species being down a third in numbers. June brought Arctic winds, a complete reversal of the Hot June of 2023 when nine species reached all time highs here and across the UK. For the first two weeks of this June temperatures were 8’C cooler than in 2023 around a frigid 9’C with only 5 good days of sun at the end of the month. The first three weeks of July had the same theme of cool and damp with 5 warm sunny days at the end. Transect walking for many was very difficult. The persistence of the cold and damp over such a long period had a devastating effect with numerically two thirds of our butterflies in the critical later stages of their development; mortality was very high. It was also one of the longest June ‘Lulls’ lasting from late May to the beginning of July. When the main flight season did arrive it was slow to build up and there was no usual peak. Better weather in August helped save the second generation and very unusually numbers actually went up at the start of September.
Losers
For many species it was a triple whammy after the heat and droughts of the previous 2 years and last July’s poor flight period this year made it a perfect storm. Overall, annual numbers were down 41% against the average and 45% down on last year. Half our species were down more than 50% and a quarter down more than 70%. The Lycaenids, Vannesids and the Fritillaries were amongst the worst affected. Many transect walkers did not see a single Common Blue, Small Copper, Holly Blue, or Brown Argus until late into their 2nd broods.. Four of our long term declining species Common Blue, Small Heath, Small Skipper and Green-veined White had their worst year ever recorded.
The Winners and less bad losers
Northern Brown Argus had an exceptional year up near 50% Other species bucking the trend were Brimstone and Marbled White. The damp loving Ringlet on many limestone/dry sites were up a half while on most wet sites they fell by a half. However if it wasn’t for Ringlet holding up the overall numerical losses, this year would have been significantly worse. It often happens when Meadow Brown has a very poor year, like this one, Ringlet does proportionally better, and vice versa in a warm year.
It has all happened before… many times.
It was our worst year since 2016 but not nearly as bad as 2009 when numbers were down 50%. 2024 comes after a run of 6 relatively good years since 2018 along with rapidly rising temperatures including 2 of our hottest summers which were followed by two of our best butterfly years in 2019 and 2023. It is likely 2024 was a blip
Results 2023:
County wide 2023 results reflect the 2022 and 2023 spring drought with Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock nearly halved for the second year against their 5 year average. Red Admiral arrived in force in July and took advantage of soft nettle growth of the 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, Brimstone, Holly Blue and most Browns having a fantastic year reaching all time highs. A increase of 9% overall 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%.
Canklow in many ways reflect the county trends for this a sandy site but the main influence on numbers were the loss of the skippers particularly Large but also Ringlet and small heath all of whom are damp lovers. All the vanessid species did better agaianst county trend as did all the whites except GV white and Oraneg tip that prefer damp. The real winners were Meadowm Brown and Gatekeeper which was universal across teh county. Losses equalled gains.