Fickle, unpredictable and not-quite-as-good-as-hoped for – it’s been a typical British summer and a typically topsy-turvy butterfly season.
The year began brightly with large numbers of overwintering brimstones, but the next generation didn’t make its presence felt in midsummer. It is a bit of a mystery why so few peacocks emerged, because their caterpillars were plentiful on nettles: some may have gone straight into hibernation, but it’s likely that others fell victim to parasitic wasps and flies.
Nevertheless, Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count recorded increases in more than half of 20 common species. The gatekeeper was the most-seen species (up 17%), while the large white (up 46%) bounced back from a poor 2014. In East Anglia, many gardeners complained about “cabbage whites” – large and small whites – munching their brassicas. In Yorkshire, however, butterfly lovers reported larger numbers of the marbled white, until recently unseen so far north.
This success story shows the upside of climate change. Many British species are at the northerly limits of their natural range, and some – the comma, the silver-spotted skipper, the brown argus – are moving north and thriving. But the latest studies suggest many species are struggling to adapt to climate change.
And while scientists don’t believe that neonicotinoids have the same effect on butterflies as they do on bumblebees, it seems logical to fear that drenching the land in chemicals means there will be fewer butterflies to delight our souls, as the 17th century naturalist John Ray put it, and “brighten the countryside like so many golden jewels”.
