Are UK butterflies getting rarer?

[AnimalToyForum]

A 'reality check' piece by the BBC about butterfly populations in the UK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44399804

Sightings of some species have declined by as much as 93% since the 70s. Quite worrying. Others, however, have gone up as much as 1000% since the 1980s. So, a complicated picture, but overall it is pretty bad.

I've also noticed the lavender bushes outside my flat in Nottingham seem to have far fewer bees than in previous years. I hope they come later in the summer...

[Isidro]

Quite imprecise. It's not that UK butterflies getting rarer, but that worlwide, and overall European, insects are dramatically disminishing. The insect biomass in natural zones in Germany was drastically reduced and the ecosystems are in the process of collapsing. In my country (Spain) I also noticed very much since many years ago the gradual trend of many species disappearing that were previously common. Just thermophilous and adaptable species are what thrive. You know we're causing the Sixth Great Extinction in the history of life on Earth, so that's just one more face of this extinction.

[AnimalToyForum]

Yeah, the situation in the UK is just a small part of a global picture.

[Isidro]

As well as butterflies are just a small part of global biodiversity. What a sad trend... Conservation concienciation is higher and higher everytime, but it will be enough or too late for avoid a bigger catastrophe...? It's not possible to deal with 7000 million humans and try that all of them will be respectful to nature...

[Beetle guy]

Same here in the Netherlands. increase in some specific species but decrease in diversity and more small fragmented populations. And I live in a area where there are many projects going to boost biodiversity. The efforts show good results, sure. But probably to little to late. The farmlands surounding our house are becoming very poor green deserts

[AnimalToyForum]

Update with a minor positive: the lavender bushes outside my flat are suddenly populated by bees (bumblebees and honeybees).

[Badger]

In the stretch of the UK I live in, I have noticed that this is definitely a bad year for most of the 'popular' butterfly species (with the probable exception of red admirals). On the other hand, large whites and common blues seem to be a bit more common this year, proportional to other butterfly species. I do, though, live near an area of 'rare habitat', so this latter part is unlikely to be a good reflection on nationwide trends (especially for the latter of those two species).

I have also noticed that there seem to be much less honeybees than previous years. Most years, my area has a ratio of about 70 bumblebees: 30 honeybees. This year, it feels like that ratio is 99 bumblebees: 1 honeybee. To further back this up, I recently went to a NT property about 2 hours east of where I live and saw a chive bush that had loads of bumblebees of all types (red tailed, yellow striped/white tailed and even combinations of the two), yet I saw virtually no honeybees.

Now on a positive note, I have seen more dragonflies/damselflies and parasitoid wasps than I did last year. Not long ago, these two things happened:

• Just before school, I saw a massive parasitoid wasp on the window. Its ovipositor was about half its length
• I caught a glimpse of a large blue dragonfly at my local nature reserve. I've been told that it was most likely an Emperor Dragonfly, which is quite a rare species in my part of the country

EDIT: I've also noticed that there are much less ants coming out in general than last year. Right now, the ants in my area (probably Lasius niger) are starting their nuptial flight, and that's when I begun to really notice it.

[AnimalToyForum]

I'm extremely lucky to work in a large park where there is a wide diversity of invertebrates (and vertebrates for that matter). Many species of moth and butterfly occupy the park, and there I also saw a huge dragonfly this week, but it moved too fast for me to get a good look at it. Maybe it was also an emperor dragonfly...

However, on my lavender bushes at home, red admirals are also the only species of butterfly that I've noticed. Also, curiously, I've noticed the relative abundances of the bee species change on my lavender bushes. Earlier in the week the honeybees outnumbered the bumblebees about 10 to 1. Today, just a few days later, the ratio has reversed, so now there are more bumblebees than honeybees, again 10 to 1. The total number of bees is about the same. Maybe it is just random, but that seems like a significant shift, and I'm pleased for the bumblebees!

[Badger]

I also saw a huge dragonfly this week, but it moved too fast for me to get a good look at it. Maybe it was also an emperor dragonfly...

They definitely are fast moving Could you discern the colour of the dragonfly, and if so, what was it?

...and I'm pleased for the bumblebees!

They are, after all, the main native pollinators of the UK

[Isidro]

They are, after all, the native pollinators of the UK (and the rest of Europe)

Hm... Would be more correct: "They are one of the hundreds of thousands of genus of native pollinators in the whole Northern Hemisphere" :-)

[AnimalToyForum]

They are, after all, the native pollinators of the UK (and the rest of Europe)

Hm... Would be more correct: "They are one of the hundreds of thousands of genus of native pollinators in the whole Northern Hemisphere" :-)

Yes, but are honeybees?

[Badger]

Yes, but are honeybees?

Probably not. It is believed that Apis mellifera probably originated in Africa or Asia, and only spread to Europe because of human migration.

Hm... Would be more correct: "They are one of the hundreds of thousands of genus of native pollinators in the whole Northern Hemisphere" :-)

Admittedly, I should have clarified my post a bit more (Which I have now)

[Isidro]

No, it has been demonstrated that the honeybee is native in Europe too.

[AnimalToyForum]

New butterfly sighting on my lavender bushes: Large White (a few).
I've also realised there are at least three species of bumblebee on them.

[Badger]

No, it has been demonstrated that the honeybee is native in Europe too.

And of course, someone corrects me Why do I even bother with any even slightly debated subject anymore?

[AnimalToyForum]

No, it has been demonstrated that the honeybee is native in Europe too.

And of course, someone corrects me Why do I even bother with any even slightly debated subject anymore?

I wonder how it was it demonstrated?

[Isidro]

Mainly genetic research in the different European endemic subspecies of this species.

[Badger]

Well, it's over a year since the last post here. Here are a few things that seem to have changed (obviously this is all anecdotal):

1) Dragonflies and damselflies (especially larger species) are more common this year; I've seen more emperor dragonflies this year than in the rest of my life!
2) Large whites and common blues are doing worse than last year, but all other butterfly species are doing better, especially orange tips and painted ladies.
3) The bumblebee:honeybee ratio has evened out again.
4) The number of ants coming out doesn't seem to have changed. I think last year, I spoke too soon regarding them.

[Advicot]

In the summer I definitely noticed lots more butterflies than in recent years. I saw over 6 different species visit my purple vervain any over 20 individual painted ladies. I,also observed many gate keepers in my local woodland.   

[AnimalToyForum]

It is a good sign.