From Ray Barnett
So the ‘Butterflies of the Bristol region’ is about to be published by BRERC (at long last). The book will show just where our butterfly species occur and those sightings you submitted to the Avon Butterfly Project, or direct to BRERC, which you thought would never see the light of day, are going to be available over the counter in Blackwells. Well that’s alright then, time to think about something else. WRONG. Now is THE time to think about butterfly recording, let me explain.
When any distribution atlas or similar is published, in whatever region of the country, two things immediately happen. Firstly the organisers flop onto their sofas crying ‘never again, how could it be so difficult to publish a few maps and photos’ and secondly the recorders buy their copy and (a) notice that one of their records has been inadvertently omitted and (b) criticise the degree of record coverage of the area. After this initial flurry, recording of that group of organisms often takes a back seat for another ten years before someone new comes along and starts up a recording scheme again. We should not let this happen. Any such atlas should be the very starting point to go on and refine our knowledge, in this case, of the butterflies of the region.
What are the salient points to learn from the publication of the Avon Butterfly project data? The simplest conclusion is that all our butterfly populations are vulnerable, even those which we are most familiar with. The track record shows a speeding up of localised extinctions of those species which require the more specialised habitats. Silver-studded Blue, Adonis Blue and the High Brown Fritillary became extinct in ‘Avon’ during the 1980s, the Pearl-bordered, Marsh and Glanville Fritillaries (although the latter was an introduced population) and the Duke of Burgundy followed them in the 1990s. Currently the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Small Blue, Chalkhill Blue and possibly the Grayling are all in danger of also disappearing from this area. The numbers of some of our commoner species which can exploit less natural habitats also give cause for concern.
On top of this global climate change may be about to make an impact. If the micro-climate at the few remaining places where our rare specialist butterflies cling on changes dramatically then they are likely to die out as comparable suitable habitat (usually a restricted foodplant) is no longer nearby to move into.
Now that we have a good set of base data (not perfect but whatever is?) we need to monitor changes closely and attempt to use this information to influence moves to conserve our remaining butterfly fauna. A priority must be to monitor the status of the declining or disappearing species mentioned above, along with others such as the Grizzled and Dingy Skippers, Wall, Dark Green Fritillary and perhaps Small Heath. After losing seven species in 20 years we do not want to lose any more! On the more positive side the Holly Blue is doing well as is the Brown Argus and the Essex Skipper is probably more widespread locally than is realised, and still increasing.
So get out there this summer and record those butterflies. Fill the gaps in where they occur in the distribution maps when the book is published in July. Search out those Essex Skippers hidden amongst the Small Skippers. Send your sightings in to BRERC and get vocal about saving our region’s beautiful butterflies!!