Denton Park Estate
Details:
Walkers: Nyree and David Fernley , Janet Kyriakides, Denis O Connor, Gramam Robinson and others Altitude : 140m Distance 2352m Walk Time ~ 45mins
This former farm site is being prepared as a biodiversity project around existing areas of small woodland. The agricultural field to the west is to be reseeded while the other pasture area is to be improved by further planting. Teh meadow area to the site already has a degree of diversity.
The site is very good currently for the Vanessid species which are utilising the woodland edges plus numbers of Brimstone and Orange tip while grassland species are in good number where the grasses have ben left unmanaged.
Sections:
Section 1 is a track through teh edge of woodland and has a wide variety of species.
Sections 2 is the east side of woodland and sheltered with a wide long grass is perfect for the Meadow Brown as well as speckled wood. Holly blue also present
Section 3 is the sunny, warm, sheltered top edge of the field and woodland beyond is perfect for speckled wood and the scarce Wall was spotted there. It is also a favourite for all members of the White family .
Section 4 is a woodland track which also favours the Speckled wood, brimstone and Vanessids Large skipper is prominent amongst the scrubby long grasses
Section 5 drops down towards teh littel stream and is dominated by Speckled wood
Section 6 Emerges from the woodland and along the existing pasture and Comma , Peacock Brimstone and Speckled Wood dominate
Section 7+8 have much lower numbers and are dominated by hedgerows . with Meadow Browns and ringlets
Section 9 is a little dark and only supports a few Speckled Wood
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 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
