The latest results from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) suggest the heatwave and drought of summer 2022 has had a negative impact on some UK butterfly species.
The latest results from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) suggest the heatwave and drought of summer 2022 has had a negative impact on some UK butterfly species. UKBMS data to be collected in 2023 will give a fuller picture of how butterflies fared in late summer, particularly for species whose caterpillars would be feeding on vegetation at that time.
UKBMS, led by Butterfly Conservation, the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) has monitored the status of UK butterflies for five decades.
Analysis of records collected by volunteers during 2022 show that overall, it was an average year for butterflies, compared to annual abundance data from the past 50 years, though there was a marked difference over the course of the flying season. There were good or average numbers of species who have offspring that emerge into adulthood in spring or early summer, but there was a significant decline among populations of many butterflies that are ‘on the wing’ late summer or autumn.
Read more at: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Species that did well in 2022 included the Large Blue, whose numbers were up 70 per cent and have thrived since being reintroduced into Britain by UKCEH and Natural England in the 1970s. (Photo Credit: Keith Warmington)
