Forest of Flowers,
Huby
Private Biodiversity Project
Site Description
Recorders: David and Jenny Rhodes, Jess Chappell and Alwyn Craven Altitude 20m Distance: 3020m. Walk Time 1-1.5hours
Forest of Flowers Huby, York is a private nature reserve previously a farm now devoted to restoring nature and is largely the vision of Alwyn Craven. This GradeB land proved agriculturally unproductive and the big decision was made not to farm. After deep inversion ploughing to a depth of 1 metre to bring the subsoil to the surface this new 74-acre woodland and wildflower meadow was planted in 2015. The project has planted 42,000 trees and shrubs, along with 35 native wildflower species and now has a specialised wetalnd arae (near s3) with 15 ponds. Only the original pasture field (S1) has been retained
.
Sections
Section 1 starts near th house with a mix of garden and then woodland edge of the old pasture field which had the largest counts of Ringlet and Meadow Brown and Small Skipper.
Into S2 and we start to see Common Blue in more numbers due to the quantity of Bird foot trefoil but also Large Skipper enjoys the longer grasses.
S3 is more woodland and hedge with a big peak in Speckled Wood .
S4 along the east side of the hedgeline is the particualr favourite of the Gatekeeper and all the other browns but also Peacocks.
S5 is similar but the Small Tortoiseshells favourite.
S6 is the favourite of both the cabbage whites.
Wall has been seen in S7
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
The Forest of Flowers did somewhat poorer than the county average this year. Two thirds of the losses are amongst the Browns and proprotionally the worst was Meadow brown down four fifths, this species tending to prefer the dry while damp loving Ringlet did proprtionally better and interestingly the same was true of Gatekeeper which likes a mixture of shade and dry at close hand. As the forest develops there is obviously more a mixture of shady and dryer areas and thus might indicate a shift in the species proportions This is supported by the fact that one of species that did better was Speckled Wood, the shade lover, reaching it site all time high.
Possibly the biggest disaster is with Tortoiseshell with only 1 seen down from 300 just a few years ago. In contrast Brimstone did rather well here even if a bit down on last year.
As the forest continues to develop we must expect butterfly numbers to decrease a little as the dry grassland species decrease by shading and 'shade lovers' take there place but at lower numbers as they are less productive.
Results:2023
County wide 2023 results reflect the 2022 and 2023 spring heat & 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 moisiture 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%.
The Forest of Flowers even with its patchy thin sandy soils saw a nice increase in numbers equalling the county average and species trends roughly follow the county ones . Skippers and Whites were mixed but there does seem to be a decline in Small Skipper numbers a species that favours long grass. Brimstone numbers doubling again thisyear is very common. Nice to see the Purple Hairstreaks coming down from their lofty Oaks to be spotted as they usually we dont see them when they are feeding on Honeydue on tree tops but this year this has been washed off. Another Marbled White visitor again this year brings promise as this species is now becoming much more widespread in the Vale of York and in southen england a countryside butterfly while only a few year ago it was confined to the Wolds in Yorkshire. The Wall is really good news that it is breeding here and although it has been a poor year for this species it has persisted and was relatively easy to spot and has made around the old farm its home. The big winners, adding 500, to the counts, was the boom in Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown but also universally this was balanced by the steep decline of eacock and Small Tortoiseshell. The boom in Comma almost equally the huge increase in Red Admirals both having remarkable years. Speckled Wood also doubled. Common Blue continues to increase and Brown Argus has also made it home now . Ringlets numbers were however well down which was almost universal across the county due to last years drought.
Results:2022
Counts are down 15% this year mostly as a results of both Meadow Brown and Ringlet being down which bucks the trend in Yorkshire where mostly sites have see increases. Gatekeeper was, however, up as it was pretty much universally and great to see Marbled White appear for the very first time but not surprised as it seems to have popped up in some numbers in what appears to be a big dispersal year.
Wall Brown also appeared in numbers after the very first last year. This is also had a good year in many places which is good news for a endangered species . The Tortoiseshell and Peacock had a bad year universally. The skippers were alos pretty much universally down across the county while Orange Tip and Brimstone showed increases in most localities. Good to see an increase in Common Blue and Small Copper which have had poor years in recent times
Results:2021
Overall numbers were down somewhat especially the Skippers and the Whites and the Vanessids which is not unlike most transects this year. Mainatining their numbersor improving were Brimstone and orange tips which is in accordance with other transects Most encouraging is teh big increase in common blue which bucks the trends ekleswhere and is very welcome. Gatekeeper also saw a large increase as were ringlets and togther compensated for the losses elewhere.