Ellerburn Banks calcareous grasslands are succeptible to drought and although drought resistant species prospered those there were not significantly decreased . Overall numbers were down 11% whiel county waise were up 9% but it was a mixed picture. The big winners were Marbled White and Meadow brown that have thrived in last years hot summer and this year very hot June.  Speckled wood did surprisingly well as they did across the whoel of Yorkshire in likely their best year ever along with Brimstone and Red Admiral. Drought sensitive Ringlet and Small Heath suffered badly but Common Blue was  even worst . Wall and Dark-green Fritillary suffered  badlyeverywhere . The vanessids all did badly ( apart from Comma) and only in the dales  did we see the beginning of recovery of these species.  

Small Skipper is having a bad time in Yorkshire but here it it significantly worse possibly due to the dry nature of the site and it follows the county pattern of the 3rd year of decrease. Large skipper although better than last year  is also on a down. Dingy skipper follows the county pattern of being a bit down on the good years, Brimstone again follows county trends in being up . The whites dont follow the county trend being well up on this site while down in the county. However Orange Tip was well up  as in the county trends . Small Copper showed a loss as in the majority of sites. Brown Argus was  down on this upland limestone site as it was on other rockrose sites while the migratory form was well up on its alternative foodplant cransebill down in the lowlands. Common Blue was also down but held its ground on other sites.  All the vanessids were down apart from Comma which was  well up and follows trends across the county with neither Small Torts  or Peacock producing a second generation and later having a very grim time,  Dark Green Frits were also down as in other parts of the county. Speckled Wood boomed as they did elsewhere particularly in later broods. Meadow Brown boomed and Ringlet was well up  more so here than in other sites . In common with the county Small Heath was down along with Marbled White, 

Overall numbers were down somewhat compares to the boom years of 2018-19. The large skipper did not reappear after a rapid fall last year and even teh Dingy skipper was down possibly the effects of last years drought spring. Green viened white had a good year as tehy tend to enjoy a wet summer.  Small Copper was also well up  but Brown Argus  had its best year since 2018 . common blue in contratst continued a trend of decreasing . The vannessids in common with most transects had a bad year particularly Comma. Speckled woods and most of the browns were down apart from Small Heath that had a boom similar to other transects  and Ringlet had its best year  for some years. Unfortunately Wall was not seen thsi year after better numbers last year but we know they tend to hate wet summers like 2020-2021.

Things in general still in good shape.

After two cracking good years numbers have fallen back only marginally and held up well  during teh poor summer of 2020 but it may well have benefitted from the long hot dry spring. Skippers were down along with Green viened white and Speckled wood which could be related to the spring drought but its great to see the Wall back in good numbers and Small Tortoiseshell after years in teh doldrums have a boom year along with Small copper and to a degree Dark Green Fritillary. A good deal of estimating had to be done for the spring species  so  its difficult to comment . Overall things look in good shape.