British butterfly desperate for warm weather this summer

Butterflies are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature and new research has revealed that when summer weather turns bad the Silver-spotted skipper battles for survival.

June 2013. A 27 year study by researchers at the University of Exeter and others estimated changes in temperature across a range of silver-spotted skipper habitats and found that localised fluctuations in temperature lead to extreme fluctuations in the butterfly population size and in the probability of the butterflies colonising new sites. The butterfly, which previously faced extinction from habitat loss, is recovering following conservation efforts but the recent cool wet summers in England have almost stalled its progress.

Lead author Dr Jonathan Bennie from the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter said: "Although we know that the climate overall is warming there is still much variability in the weather from one year to the next. This variability presents a threat to southern British butterflies that we might expect to take advantage of warmer conditions to colonise further north. In warmer years the silver-spotted skipper, which needs a balmy 25°C to become fully active, has expanded its range. However during the recent cold wet summers we have found the skipper clinging to the warmest south-facing hillsides waiting for better weather."

Continued