Dire warnings that last summer’s drought could be disastrous for this summer’s butterflies don’t appear to have come to pass.
We’re in the realm of anecdote, with scientific data still to be unveiled, but it’s a vintage high summer in parts of Britain. My garden buddleia barometer has recorded the highest total of peacocks and red admirals (more than 20 on one bush) in the nine years I’ve lived here.
The nature writer Richard Mabey tells me the “unprecedented explosion” of butterflies he’s witnessed over the past fortnight has put him in a state of cognitive dissonance, given the climate and extinction crises.
What’s going on? Richard Fox, from Butterfly Conservation, says this unsettled summer may be ideal – butterflies can happily cope with daily rain if there are also warm, dry periods and, most importantly, caterpillars’ food plants aren’t shrivelling up.
Is this a rare upside of the climate crisis? Many butterfly species are at the northerly limits of their range in Britain. If (a big if) we control chemical farming and restore wild habitat, global heating could benefit butterflies here, although overall numbers would still diminish as species vanish if southern Europe fries.
The uncertainty over what all this signifies shouldn’t diminish the joy of a half-decent butterfly summer.
