Steve Orridge reports on a better year for Butterflies in Grin low

Every year a band of dedicated butterfly enthusiasts look forward to the start of the survey season. This runs from the beginning of April until the end of September and lasts for 26 weeks.

The year is divided up between the volunteers and it usually means that we each have one survey to do a month. We started surveying in 2015 and each year has been better than the last.

See Graph below

We are now up to week 19 and our count is already 100 more than last years total. We have seen 18 species of butterfly within Grinlow and here is a selection from the 11 species we saw in week 19’s survey.

Last year was a fantastic year for Red Admirals with huge numbers seen right up to the end of September Will we get the same this year? It is hard to tell but the dry hot summer and lack of rain has reduced the crop of Devil’s Bit Scabious which provided such a wonderful supply of nectar for last year’s generation. No matter how the year ends, it is going to be remembered for the exceptional numbers of butterflies.

Although it is not a rare species this brimstone butterfly is our first record for Grinlow.

It has been a very good year for Common Blue butterfly with 68 being counted on one survey in June.

The introduction of the Woodland Ride in 2015 has provided increased habitats for Butterflies as well as increasing the bio diversity of the wood generally.

We will publish a full report at the end of the year which will be available to download from our website.

If anyone would like to get involved in future surveys please let us know by emailing us at communications@buxtoncivicassociation.org.uk