Scar Close NNR
Dales National Park
SSSI
Ingleborough
Embedded Files
Site Details
Site Details
Recorders: Andrew Hinde , Terry Whitaker & Frank Morgan Length 2389m Walk Time: 45mins
Within the Ingleborough National Nature Reserve, the transect goes across Scar Close, at the north west slopes of Inglebrough. An area of sparsely wooded limestone pavement supporting a wide diversity of calcareous grassland species. The site is unique in having areas of peat on the pavement that support more acidic tolerant species. The transect was established primarily for Northern Brown Argus but in recent years has had a large colony of Dark-green Fritillary. The discovery of Small Pearl- bordered Fritillary in 2007 highlights the importance of the transect monitoring approach for some of the key butterfly species in the upland
Sections
Sections
S1 is dominated by Green-viened White
S2 is the favourite for Dark-green Fritillary but is also seen throughout
S3 is favourite with Peacock and Northern Brown Argus is seen
S5 is favourite of Small Pearls along with S8 but also seen throughout
S9 is also a favourite for the Vannesids
S10 owards most species present at lower levels
Results 2024 Very limited data
Results 2024 Very limited data
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 limited data
Results 2023 limited data
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%.
Scar close produced very limited data for the second year. We can be fairly sure Northern Brown Argus was likely down but not a disaster but continues its slow declien and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary had another good year and this species is much improved over the last 4 years. We need a good year of data to be sure of these important trends on this valuable site with 20 years of good recording.
Results 2022 limited data
Results 2022 limited data
Although the data has too many gaps to have alot of certainity we can see the skippers have gone absent this year along with Orange tips. Peacocks are very much lower. Overal counts compared to the peak in 2019 are about half largely as a result of this and of course the Painted Ladies that year. You can also guess that Dark Green fritillary and the Small Pearls are also holding well.. if not increasing.
Longer term we can see a very strong improvement in the SPBF and a equally strong decrease in the Dark green Fritillary. Northern brown Argus is showing a slow decline along with an even steeper decline in Common Blue . Overall numbers of al species is upwards in common with all our monitored sites. The repacements for teh Lycaenids are all grassland species starting with a sharp improvement in Small heath from 2015 meadow brown and Ringlet began to appear in increasing numbers each year along with Green Hairstreak. Almost all species suffered catastrphic losses in summer 2017
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