Numbers Way Up On Last Year:
Following on from the Old Lady thread. I've had five individuals this year, with only singles over the last three years. Looking at other species, well over a thousand Large Yellow Underwings with 400 last year, Straw Dots, Flame Shoulders, Setaceous Hebrew, Uncertain and Square Spot Rustics also in much higher numbers.
It looks like it's going to be a good 2017 for our moths and Butterflies, here in Davenham anyway.
This morning my Buddleia bush had 8 Red Admirals, 2 Small Tortoiseshells, 3 Small Whites and 1 Large White feeding on it. More than I've ever seen together in my garden. It's like a throwback to the 60's when it was a common sight to see these bushes full of Butterflies and Bees.
It gladdens the heart to see so many again.
Greg
Numbers Way Up On Last Year
Re: Numbers way up on last year
Hi Greg,
Interesting stats - sadly I'm not finding the same situation here in Elton (though butterflies do seem better off this time around).
On the moth front, numbers continue to fall. From a garden list of 666, 123 are currently showing in numbers above their average since 1991, which means that 543 are in fact worse than average in 2017 ...... clearly, since I've only recorded 275 thus far, that number effectively comes down to 268 but that still means two-thirds of species are worse off on average. The chart below gives an indication where overall numbers of individuals are headed.
We've not recorded 1,000 for any moth this year, and only seven have exceeded 100: (large Yellow Underwing (584), Common Rustic agg; Epiphyas postvittana, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Tachystola acroxantha, Lesser Yellow Underwing and Square-spot Rustic (106)).
On the plus side ...... 2017 is markedly better than 2016 !
Cheers,
Steve
[/color]
Interesting stats - sadly I'm not finding the same situation here in Elton (though butterflies do seem better off this time around).
On the moth front, numbers continue to fall. From a garden list of 666, 123 are currently showing in numbers above their average since 1991, which means that 543 are in fact worse than average in 2017 ...... clearly, since I've only recorded 275 thus far, that number effectively comes down to 268 but that still means two-thirds of species are worse off on average. The chart below gives an indication where overall numbers of individuals are headed.
- Moth numbers at Elton - 1991-2017
On the plus side ...... 2017 is markedly better than 2016 !
Cheers,
Steve
[/color]