Duck Street Quarry
Privately owner reserve for Butterflies
Details
Recorders: Georgie Jones & Nell Wharton Distance: 931 Area 6.5 acre Altitude 391m Walk Time: 30mins
This is the premier butterfly site on the edge of Nidderdale. It is a private site and permission is needed from an owner for access. This is for safety reasons with the many cliff faces of the old quarry, rough terrain and many hazards present
It is an abandoned limestone quarry that is a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its geological features. It also has a rich limestone grassland flora. Some years Dark Green Fritillary can be very common.
This transect is teh highest in Yorkshire at nearly 400m and roughly teh same as Malham and Inglebrough transects.
Sections
The butterfly highlights are in Sections 1, 5 and 6 along the southern edge of the site but no dark green fritillaeries were seen in 2022
2022 Results
Although the transect didnt start till mid May not much was missed. This is a very good site for Common Blue and is largely singel brooded although this year there was evidence on a very small second brood. Similarly Small heath is very common and teh most abundant species on the site which is good for a trheatened species, again only a single brood was in evidence. Numbers of other species reflect teh county trends with whites other than Smal lwhite not doing well in teh drought whiel red admiral was up from teh number of thsi years migrants. Peacock you can suspect suffered very badly as elsewhere and Smal Tortoiseshell disappeared all togther after early August which is exactly like elsewhere no second brood and summer adults hibernated quickly and never ventured back out. Great to see and Orange Tip flying at this altitude
Will the fritillaries return?
