Thursday, April 24, 2008

Butterflies had a dire 2007

According to reports from charity Butterfly Conservation 2007 was a terrible year for butterflies.

Butterflies do not fly in the rain, making it impossible for them to reach the plants on whose nectar they feed. Heavy rain also means they are unable to breed.

It was the worst year for over a quarter of a century. The stats from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme found that eight butterflies were at an all-time low - the Common Blue, the Grayling, the Lulworth Skipper, the Small Skipper, the Small Tortoiseshell, the Speckled Wood, the Chalkhill Blue and the Wall.

Butterflies like the Small Tortoiseshell were once common in UK gardens.

You can read more here.

1 comment:

Liz said...

I have to agree on that one, last year was terrible. I was waiting for the butterflies to arrive and they never really appeared.

However I will say, to me by far the most abundant were the Speckled Woods, then the Gatekeepers. I saw only one small Tortoishell and one Red Admiral.

I saw my first Admiral in October when we had a warm spell and the plants sprang back into blossom again!

I'd expected to see plenty of butterflies being so close to a park, every single Buddleia bush I went past, didn't have a single Butterfly on them throughout the whole summer.

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