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

Swarth Moor had a poor year with overall numbers down 30%.  The main reason is the big decline in more drought sensitive species namely Ringlet, Small Heath and Green-viened white which was just about universal trend across Yorkshire.   Dark-green Fritillary has seen regular falls one of the largest has been these last two years being absent this year. Although on many site Small Pearls have done well here it had its second very poor year and is in a  bad situation!

Overall an average year down 3% although with some big differences between the species.

 Small Skippe bounced back doubling in numbers enjoying the hot summer while large skipper  was a tad down.  Whites in general had a poorer season  but even so well up on last year. The vanessids were all down but not nearly as much as the majority of sites where they collapsed with no second generation, due to poor nettles. 

Both Fritillaries were down drastically to just a quarter of last year. SPBF are still on a steady decline down three quarters over the 20 year monitoring period which is disappointing. Meanwhile DGF as elesewhere in Yorkshire continues to enjoy a rapid long term rise although almost universally they are down this year. 

meadow brown Enjoyed a good year as elsewhere and compensated for a good deal of the loses. 

Ringlet and Small Heath were very slightly down in line with much of the county.

Small Skipper is much reduced from 2019 peak as was Large Skipper but this is a trend amongst all sites. Common Blue has reappeared but Green Hairstreak was absent this year.

The vanessids did badly apart from Small Tortoiseshell which  did well here and boomed on many sites.  SPBF is pretty consistant while DGF has greatly increased which is a pattern of the last few years. Small Heath boomed as in many sites while Ringlet faltered. Meadow brown was close to average