Hot
summer of 2018 boosted large blue, and black hairstreak, but small
tortoiseshell declined
Mon 8 Apr
2019 06.30 BSTLast modified on Mon 8 Apr 2019 11.48 BST
The
golden summer of 2018 saw two of the UK’s rarest butterflies, the large
blue and
the black
hairstreak, enjoy their best years since scientific monitoring began.
More than
two-thirds of British butterfly species were seen in higher numbers last year
than in 2017, but despite the ideal butterfly weather, it was still only an
average season – the 18th best in 43 years of recording.
Species
whose caterpillars feed on grasses struggled as grass withered in hot
weather, while there were mysterious ongoing declines for the small
tortoiseshell and the peacock, both garden favourites. Despite the warmth, both
butterflies had their third-worst
year since
the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme –
the longest-running scientific insect monitoring project in the world – began
in 1976.
Prof Tom
Brereton of Butterfly
Conservation said: “There were not as many butterflies
around as we might have expected given the fabulous weather over much of the
butterfly season, and overall, 2018 ranked as barely better than average.
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