Gowerdale

Private Property of Hawnby and Arden Estate 

Site Details:

Walkers: Sam Newton                                   Distance  walk Time :                      Altitude: 

This  private estate does have a limited public access via footpaths which are  taken by this  route from the car parking area  and then down into Gowerdale skirting the valley as far as Sunny Bank, 

This area has always been a known location for the rare  Duke of Burgundy  but in recent times scrub encrouchment has reduced the amount of available area but this is now being reversed by extensive management by Butterfly Conservation volunteers each winter.

Sections:

S1+S2 are intensively farmed agricultural field margins and have a good numbers of species like Ringlet, Meadow Brown

S3 is moorland edge and has very good numbers of threatened Small Heath, Small Copper and Green Hairstreaks.

 As we approach the woodland in S4 Duke of Burgundy , Wall, Dark-green Fritillaries, Dingy Skipper   and a array of grassland species  like Small Heath,  Small Copper and Common Blue which continue in S5. 

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

Gowerdale  did significantly  better than the county average with  the damp loving Ringlet numbers increasing helping to counter big losses in the dry loving Meadow Brown, Peacock nearly doubling and Large  and Dingy Skipper doing well  The other big losers was Small heath although a tad better than the  county results , Whites did very particularly poorly here

Results  2023

Overall numbers down -30% against the county average -41% so better than most even with the disaster of so few whites see graphic above. The Whites were  down over 95% here while elsewhere about -50% which likely because they fly in from surrounding farmland.  Greatly reduced numbers of the vanessids worse again than  the county average with Comma and Tortoiseshell  nearly disappearing. 

Like elsewhere Peacock did better than last year with a massive improvement . Great to  have Duke of Burgundy up while at Hawnby they were down a third. Large and Dingy skipper were also up on last year.  While teh majority of Browns were down 50%  in common with the county Ringlet  managed to increase which was in common with other  well drained limestone sites.  Fritillaries had a very torrid time everywhere but they will return.

Overall not bad considering what a crap year! 


Results  2023

More intensive monitoring shows us what a wonderful site this location is.