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

Ripon City Wetlands was slightly down on the county average. Small Tortoiseshell  has not been seen this year  but at least Peacock, as in many localities, is up and recovering on the low point after 2 years of drought of 2022-2023 

Ripon Wetlands saw a very large increase in overall numbers across a broad range of species mostly following the county trends. The Big losers were Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell and amongst the whites.  There were  explosions of Meadow Browns  and  Gatekeeper doubling up on a good year last year.   Even the drought sensitive species here seemed much less affected than elsewhere . Great to see a Dark-green Fritillary make an appearance and Common Blue stage a recovery.

Although nearly an average year it is  just slightly down with some big winners and losers! The skippers were big losers as unusually  was Brimstone which was a tad up in most places.  Apart from  the Large Whites the whites were mostly down with only Orange Tip increasing which matches with the county trends. Holly blue was seen in numbers for the first time and this is in line with other places where it has reappeared after a absence of a few years. As with the county all the vannesids were down apart from Comma  that more than doubled and was one of the big winners. Also winners were Speckled Woods and all the Browns.