Rodley Nature
Reserve
Site Details : Owned by Yorkshire Water and managed by Rodley nature reserve trust
Volunteers : Howard Smith, Penny Smith and Pragna Unia
Situated just four miles from the centre of Leeds, Rodley Nature Reserve is different to most wetland reserves in that the wetlands were all dug out from scratch from rough grassland close to the River Aire. When Yorkshire Water plc decomissioned the Rodley Water Treatment Works in 1993 it was with a wish that their land should be developed as a nature reserve. The land is situated in the Aire valley and is leased to Rodley Nature Reserve Trust from YW who manage it with help from donations and volunteers from Friends of Rodley Nature Reserve plus the income generated from the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme.
Sections:
The Dragonfly Pond Area and surrounding pathways (S6-9) had very low counts, possibly due to the significant amount of work undertaken to develop the pond area which may have reduced the nectaring opportunities for Comma, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral etc. Tim’s Field was awash with Small White (S5/10) from mid July once the annually drilled seed mix had flowered. The buddleia finally flowered in late August (S2) and attracted good numbers of Red Admiral, particularly in September. Despite a poor spring, good numbers of Speckled Wood were seen in S11 in the late summer, a section that runs through mature deciduous trees and adjacent to the willow coppice. Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Gatekeeper were recorded in mid-summer in both the John Ackroyd Wild Flower Meadow (S3/4) and the Mike Fisk Wild Flower Meadow (S13).
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
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%.
Another good year with a big increase in numbers well above teh county average. This is mostly due to an explosion of Gatekeeper and a better year for all the white species. The site also largely follows the county trends with good increases of Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood , Comma, Red Admiral and Brimstone. As universally Ringlet was well down and had the largest numerical loss.
Results: 2022
The site had a significant increase in numbers compared to last year up near a fifth.
The trends are very similar to the county trends with Brimstone well up after the fabulous autumn last year. Large White was down . Hollly Blue returned after being absent last year as did Small Copper. Smal tortoiseshell had a disasterous summer generation while in contrast comma doubled similar to other sites. All teh browns did well and in particular Gatekeeper was universally on a boom.
Results: 2021
Despite the continued impact of Covid, and the appalling weather in April/May, 23 walks were undertaken. A total of 17 species were noted with Ringlet, Meadow Brown and Small Whites together accounting for nearly 60% of the 673 recorded sightings. On the whole the pattern of sightings mirrored that throughout Yorkshire reflecting the cold, wet, miserable spring which resulted in no count over 20 until 7th July followed by large numbers of meadow butterflies benefitting from the lush habitats and finally good sightings of nectaring butterflies well into September.
Howard Smith October 2021