Hell Wath LNR
Owner: Tarmac leased to Harrogate Borough Council
Site Details:
Walkers: Gabby Crisp (lead) Jeremy Dunford, Maria Atha, Jan Allon-Smith, Jean Houseman, Karyn Gordon, Carol & Tony Leo, Jane Horton, Dawn Madeley Jane Horton,
Rebecca Kirbitson, Karyn Gordon
Distance: 2166m Altitude: 40m Time: 45mins
The land is leased by Harrogate Borough Council, from Tarmac. There has been light management since the lease started in 1991 with increased management from 2017 when Friends of Hell Wath was created, initially as a community Voluntary Group and more recently as a charity. HBC is directly involved in the activities but this is now supported by the Skell Valley Project through a Heritage Lottery Grant. This is further increasing the management with work to enhance and improve the grasslands a key part of this. There are two areas of playfields used by a local footbal club and this two fields have experenced much more signicant management over the years but are still bordered by hedgerows.Is an area of grassaland and scrub in the process of being restored by the side of the river Skell on the urban edge of Ripon. Access is by Public Rights of Way off the B6265 Mallorie Park Drive The total area is 9Ha. The Skell has cut through the magnesisan limestone ridge and about 800m from the reserve is another reserve and SSI at Quarry Moor LNR with a large variety of species including Dingy Skipper and many more calacareous grasslands and meadows in Studley Park. View below is start of S2 of semi improved calcareous grassland
Sections:
S1 is somewhat scrubby area and part woodland and has good numbers ofshady hedgerow species like Speckled Wood, Orange tip and Comma and few grassalnd species S2 has the highest counts and is the highest quality unimproved grassland area, It has seen the rare Wall along with the threatened Small Heath and other Grassland species including Gatekeeper and Large Skipper. S3 is scrubby with few butterflies. S4 is a little more grassy and Small Copper is seen along with a few Small Heath but S5 sees a big jump in numbers along leefy hedgerows with a wide variety of common species. S6 is the southside of a hedge and mature trees. S7 is a favourite of teh small copper and lies at the back of domestic gardens S8 bounds teh play area and its hedgerow is a favourite of the orange Tip and teh other whites.
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
Hell Wath did somewhat worse than the county average with the major losses being Red admiral where few migrants arrived this year and the browns suffered in the poor spring and June cool weather. Even so, good news is Wall numbers held up and Peacock returned after being absent after two years of drought The damp loving Green-veined white also did better.
Results: 2023:
County wide 2023 results reflect the 2022 Heat and 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%.
Hell Wath had a small increase in overall numbers similar to the county average. Great to see the Wall increased while in so places numbers tumbled after last years drought. Trends in the other species tend to mirror those of the county with Brimstone, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Comma and Speckled Wood reaching record numbers . Most of the loses were in the Browns particularly Ringlet but also Small Heath both being drought sensitive. It could have been so easily a record year apart from the drought.
2022 Data:
Its great to see the Wall present on this site as well as Small Heath as restoration continues.