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

Langrickgate saw a very large increase in numbers this year one of our largest in teh county. This  largely hedgerow survey shows how just a littel bit of shade has saved many from last years burning heat and led to a boom that largely follows the county trends just plus some. For example Gatekeeper doubled over its previous highest  as did Speckled Wood , Meadow Brown contributed most to the enhanced numbers  being double its 5 year average.  Great also to see Small Skipper flourish after many years of not so good numbers. Even Marbled white turned up this year and who would believe that species is now quite well established at low number in the Vale of York and is  seen regularly. NB this is a national trend and consequence of our warming world.

Good to see counts up on this site as most sites are close to average making 2022  the best year yet by a good percentage.   The Skippers and the Cabbage whites were up but Brimstone and Orange Tip  are somewhat down which is contrary the county trends . Brown Argus is up which is very much the county trend this year as is Speckled wood  which boomed in September. The Vanessids however are very much down particularly Peacock  which is very much the county trend suffering very badly in the heat and drought. The Browns were all very much up as was teh county trend but particularly Gatekeeper which boomed on almost every site. Longer term the Browns are showing a steady rise which might reflect changes in how the verges are managed

Despite the vagaries of the weather and Most transect being down Langrickgate on fell back very slightly and has been a consistant performer over its three years of operations which is an achievement with 2019 being such an exceptional year for many transects. There have been changes but they tend to balance out Brimstome and gatekeepr had very good years which matches teh experionce on many transects  and smal tortoishell continues to boom rising sharply again as with most transects . The othe rbrowns had a OK year but green viened white showed an increase. Speckled wood decreased as it did elsewhere. Small and Large skipper bucked the Yorkshire trend and increased here

Overall  7 species showed and increase and 8 species a decrease  so a mixed fortunes.  This is probably a good result over such a short period as most transects were down in 2020 compared with the long hot summer of 2019. A lareg decreace after the hot conditions of 2019 folowed by a mild extremely wet winter, extremely warm dry spring into a variabel sometimes wet summer of 2020 and species oscillated asa result. So to maintain numbers is good. 

 Numbers were almost identical over the first two years but there have been changes.  The cabbage whites were up somewhat along  with Small Tortoiseshells s but not as much as many other sites where there wer large increases. Large Skippers and Speckled Woods were up in contrast to other sites although similar to nearby  damp site at Bishop Wood.  There was a strong decrease in Ringlet and  of course the migratory Painted Lady and Red Admiral  and there was also  smaller decreases in Small Copper Common Blue Green viened white and Small Skipper which is similar to bishop Wood and other sites Gatekeeper was also down a tad which matchs other sites.