Butterf ly high!
Two-thirds of our best-loved species see an increase
HOPEFUL springtime news has arrived – butterfly numbers are rising.
Last year was their most prolific since 1997, with two-thirds of species in Scotland seeing a population increase.
The number of chequered skippers soared by 175 per cent compared with 2008, figures from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme show.
The painted lady, however, was the real winner, with 1,000 per cent more seen last year than the preceding summer. This was down to a once-in-a-decade ‘painted lady year’, as clouds of the migratory insects arrived from Europe and Africa.
The warm spring and summer is believed to have helped caterpillars grow faster. It was also wet enough to provide plenty of wildflower leaves to munch.
The other winners were the pearl bordered fritillary (up 82 per cent), the chequered skipper (175 per cent), the orangetip (119 per cent), the peacock (91 per cent) and the speckled wood (26 per cent).
Seven species present north of the Border decreased in abundance: the large white, (down 31 per cent), the small white (49 per cent) the green-veined white (20 per cent), the wall (9 per cent), Scotch argus (2 per cent), comma (45 per cent) and the small blue (66 per cent).
Professor Tom Brereton, of the charity Butterfly Conservation, said: ‘Scotland had a fantastic year in 2019, six butterfly species had their best-ever year. That’s twice as many as in England, despite there being fewer species in Scotland.
‘We’re really heartened to see a shift in the fortunes of many of our most loved species.’