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
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.