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24 April 2008
No food, no sex - summer of 2007 was dire for butterflies
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Britain’s butterflies desperately need good weather in the coming months to recover from last year’s dreadful summer, the wettest since records began.
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.
New figures for 2007 reveal that as a consequence of the constant wet weather, butterflies suffered their worst year for over a quarter of a century. Several species had their lowest ever recorded numbers.
The disturbing statistics come from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, operated by the charity Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Each year it collates data collected by thousands of volunteers.
It 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.
Other species that suffered badly included the High Brown Fritillary and the Duke of Burgundy, both already victims of years of decline.
Conservationists are waiting anxiously to see if Britain’s butterflies manage to recover this year. They fear that last year’s problems, and the knock-on effect on breeding, will exacerbate the downward spiral of butterfly numbers. If this happens, theUnited Kingdom could be facing a butterfly catastrophe with some species facing extinction in parts of the country.
Sir David Attenborough, President of Butterfly Conservation, is promoting the Stop Extinction Appeal to raise funds to help avoid a crisis.
He said: “Butterflies face mounting threats. Some face possible extinction. Money from Butterfly Conservation’s Stop Extinction Appeal will restore countryside for butterflies and other wildlife.”
There have been two other bad years for butterflies since the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme was set up 33 years ago, both stemming from extremes of weather. The worst was1981, the last really chilly summer of recent times when the average peakUK temperature was a mere 14.1oC (57.1oF). The other was 1977, which followed the severe drought of the previous summer, from which some of our rarest species have never fully recovered. Increased frequency of extreme weather events is a serious concern for the future.