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

The site sees a big increase in overall numbers but it might not be a big reason to celebrate.  Many more species were down than were up!   The large increase is almost wholly down to one species Meadow Brown cancelling out the biggest loser; the drought sensitive  Ringlet. As with the county trends Gatekeeper  boomed tripling here and Brimstone doubling.   The Vanessids did particularly badly with not a single Peacock seen and even Red Admiral down while it boomed universally. 

Like some other wet grassland sites there can be considerable variations in counts over the 14 years but overall the trend is slightly upwards at about  5% per decade mostly due to slight increases in  Meadow Brown and Ringlet who's ups and downs dominate the annual totals. Other species show a small decline such as Small Skipper and Large Skipper down alot. Most species show the 2013 and 2019 peaks and the duldrums of 2009 and 2011 period reflecting wider countryside trends at this time.  

As in the Vale of York it has seen dispersing Marbled Whites in the recent boom years 2020-22.

 Wall  disaapeared at the same time as most areas in 2007-8 very wet summers.

Total count in 2021  was high 22% above the 5 year average and close to teh 2019 exceptionally good year which is against the trend of other transects being mostly down at least a few percent. The reason is mostly a very high count of Meadow Brown.   It far from all good news as with other transects the skippers were well down as were the cabbage whites  Small Copper and Common Blue. The Vanessids  were all down apart from Small Tortoiseshell which continues to boom on nearly all transects. Also reflecting other transects Gatekeeper and Orange Tip  are up.  It was great that Marbled White visited again but they are also had a good year on the wolds.  

Highlight of the year was sighting of a Marbled White.  However numbers of other species were well down this year in particular Common Blue, Brown Argus, Small Copper but particularly Holy Blue. The skippers also suffered and we might guess this all relates to last year heat and this years drought.  Ringlet was also down which has been a pattern this year.   However the Vannesids were definately up particularly Small Tortoiseshells and the migrant Red Admiral and Large White showed very well.