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

TRANSECT REPORTS