Butterflies have given my garden a wide berth so far this year but I’m expecting that to change soon. I’m writing this just before an Easter holiday forecast of soaring temperatures hopefully bringing a butterfly bonanza.
Luckily plenty of butterflies are fluttering in the countryside. Brimstones, usually among the first to appear, supplied my first butterfly sighting of the year on February 26 while Small White, Peacock and Comma all followed in March. The second week of April produced one of my favourites. I always think the male Orange Tip looks like a Small White grabbed by an artist who has splodged orange paint on the wingtips.
A joint report by Butterfly Conservation, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, British Trust for Ornithology and Joint Nature Conservation Committee shows many butterfly populations zoomed during 2018. The statistics gathered by thousands of volunteers throughout the summer revealed that some butterflies enjoyed their highest populations for 50 years.
Read more: Wild Things column: We're doomed if insects become extinct
Small Tortoiseshell - Picture by Jim Butler
Numbers of the reintroduced Large Blue rose 58 per cent on 2017 and one of these rarities was found on the Thames foreshore at Abbey Wood. Black Hairstreaks had their best year since records began in 1976 with a 900 per cent increase while Large Heaths, Heath Fritillaries, Brown Argus and Speckled Wood all thrived. All three species of whites also increased with the threatened Duke of Burgundy up 65 per cent.
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Despite all these encouraging statistics the survey revealed two thirds of our butterflies are on the decline. Gatekeepers, Small Skippers and Essex Skippers suffered population reductions while Small Tortoiseshells dropped 38 per cent, Peacocks 25 per cent and Red Admirals 75 per cent.
To help butterflies you can leave an area of lawn unmown and plant native wildflower species.
Meanwhile the first new order of insects discovered in Britain for 100 years has surfaced in a greenhouse. A colony of webspinners was found at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Wisley Gardens, Surrey. The harmless creatures are thought to have been brought in on roots of a tropical plant and become the 24th order of British insects including beetles, dragonflies and bees.
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