Red admiral sight suggests sunnier days on horizon
THE start of this week brought my first butterfly of the year, a red admiral emerging rapturous from the depths of the garden shrubbery.
Since then a low-lying level of murk has descended and the poor insects must be once more wondering what time of year it is.
These capricious seasons exert a particular toll on butterflies. A report released by the annual UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme this week has revealed last year was the seventh worst on record.
For two declining species, grayling and grizzled skippers, fewer took to the skies than in any year since the scientific monitoring of butterflies began more than 40 years ago.
It was not all bad news, however, with two species enjoying long-term increases, including red admiral (up by 78 per cent compared with 2016). The comma rose by 91 per cent. The pearl-bordered fritillary, which has been the subject of dedicated conservation work, also registered a 57 per cent increase on 2016.
The cause of this bonfire of the butterflies is multivariate, with pesticides, nitrogen pollution and habitat loss all playing their part. But scientists say our changing climate is wreaking similar havoc. According to Prof Tom Brereton, head of monitoring at Butterfly Conservation, while the average increases in temperature anticipated as a result of climate change should be beneficial to many butterflies, the variable and extreme weather that comes with them is having a negative effect.
Fortunately, warm weather inches towards us. In parts of the country it will be positively balmy by Tuesday. The long-term forecast is also looking more or less sunny and settled.
Perhaps my pioneering red admiral has it right? Proper spring sunshine may be finally here.