Thank you to everyone who has taken part in various activities over the spring and summer to survey Binfield’s wildlife. Local residents conduct regular butterfly surveys in Wicks Green, Blue Mountain and along the paths to the north and west of the village centre. 19 different species of butterflies were recorded along the paths to the north and west of the village and 15 different species were recorded in our monthly survey of Blue Mountain park. In both cases the numbers of both butterflies and species peaked in July. If you’d like to help us survey other parts of the parish next year then please contact me on the email address below.
Our surveyors observed butterfly species emerging earlier than usual this year and predicted a butterfly summer that then failed to emerge. This finding is consistent with the summary of the 2020 Big Butterfly Count.
More than 110,000 people took part in the 2020 Big Butterfly Survey, organised by Butterfly Conservation (https://butterfly-conservation.org/), and conducted between the 17th July and the 9th August. The participants submitted almost 150,000 counts which was a record. However, the average number of butterflies per count was down by almost a third. Butterfly Conservation suggested a number of possible reasons for this: the unusually warm spring may have led to the early emergence of many species; this year’s new participants may have been less confident in butterfly identification; and there was not an influx of painted lady butterflies (see picture) this year.
Butterfly Conservation have been running the survey for 11 years and are most interested in the long term trends that it shows. They say “Butterflies and moths are incredibly valuable indicators of the health of our environment. Their declines show not only the effects of human behaviour on the world around us but also the changing patterns of our weather. As well as being important and beautiful creatures in themselves, they play key roles in the ecosystems of birds, mammals, invertebrates and plants as food, population controllers and pollinators. Their conservation is vitally important.”
Butterfly Conservation say that the best things that we can for butterflies in our gardens and green-spaces are: garden chemical-free; use peat-free composts; and plant pollinator-friendly plants.
By the way, one of our surveyors has spotted a couple of box tree moths in the parish. These pretty moths are becoming more common in our area, but their caterpillars can make a mess of our box hedges. If you want to know more about the box tree moth and what you can do about your box plants then have a look at the RHS website - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=760