Jacob Smith Park
Owned by Harrogate CC
Friends of Jacob Smith Park
Site Details
Transect walkers : Julia Hatch Length 1946m Walk Time approx 1 hour Alititude 60m
An area of ex-grazing land used as a public park, mainly by dog walkers commonly known as Guiseley Hill includes a good number of ancient Oak. Millstone grit but surrounded by Magnesian limestone. The land bequeathed to Harrogate Borough Council with covenants to maintain for wildlife and access. Now managed by North Yorkshire Council, paths are usually mown 3 times a year and the areas of grassland cut once during the summer/autumn. The cut grass is no longer collected and is left to rot down. Between 2022 and 2024 a programme of Himalayan Balsam control has been taking place, around the park perimeter and beneath trees. It has involved mechanically cutting the balsam and, consequentially, other surrounding vegetation, usually taking place early July.
Grasslands vary in quality but there are already good areas of herb rich sward. but are actively with limited resources being improved with reseeding with wild flowers.
Sections
S1 + S2: To right side of path, narrow man-made woodland of young trees - ash, beech, birch, hazel, cherry. Dense nettle beds line right side of path. To the left of path, tall grasses of ex-grazing land, mix of many grass species including meadow grass, cocksfoot, false oat grass, meadow foxtail. Favoured by the vanessids
S3: To the right of path, large south west facing areas of mixed tall herbs, mainly thistles, some bramble thickets and mature woodland beyond. To the left, low growing grasses and mix of flowers including yellow rattle, sorrel, buttercup
S4: Right side of path is shady seasonally wet ground and pond which drains along the park perimeter. Nettles and boggy grass, with privately owned woodland beyond. To the left of the path is low growing grasses and a mix of flowers including rattle, buttercup, plantains. Scattered large oak trees beyond. These damp area favoured orange tip and particularly Large Skipper
S5: Area of damp meadow of low growing grasses recently sown with wildflower mix, including rattle, buttercup, sorrel, plantains, common spotted orchid, germander speedwell, birds foot trefoil. On the perimeter of the meadow are tickets of bramble, ivy and dense areas of nettles. Also small trees have been planted including holly, hawthorn, blackthorn.
S6: A short section of woodland edge and glades, mainly beech and horse chestnut. Very little low growing scrub. Stone built high wall to the right. Beyond the wood, to the left, is grassland. fAVOURED BY sPECKLED WOOD
S7:Medium height grasses and flower rich sunny bank. Scattered large old oak trees. Newly planted (2024) woodland extension beyond may have an influence in the future.
S8: Tall growing mixed grasses with docks and thistles in places, open aspect. along with S7 has most of thE grassland species
S9: To the right of the path is tall growing mixed grasses of ex-grazing land. To the left are scattered old oak trees, fenced. Scrub thickets of bramble and hawthorn are also along left side of the path.
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
