Just wondering if it is our garden or are others seeing a downturn in the numbers of Butterflies visiting your gardens?
Last year we had lots of butterflies of different kinds floating around the garden and enjoying the flowers we have. This year so far I must have seen only a handful. Maybe it is the past bad weather we have had that has had it's toll on them.
Anyone else notice a downturn in numbers?
Ed
Definitely fewer than last year at the moment Ed...
Only 1 or 2 here Ed and very few to be seen in Leven yesterday...its a sad situation
(Pardon the Scottish Accent)
Definitely Ed. Was speaking to a regular "pro" butterflier, and they said coz the plants/ flowers are behind so are the butterflies. She reckoned about a month behind, so fingers crossed can have a bumper later season
Just chatting to OH about the lack here in East Kent too even though we're now having a heatwave for a few days ... from one extreme to the other ... Buddleias in full flower but only a Holly Blue so far today Was an exceptionally good year here last year!
Edit: no hoverflies at all on their favourite Spirea!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Wendy and all so far. Thank you for your answers. I truly hope they return in numbers soon. The only thing we have in abundance here at the moment is Ants. The moth, hoverfly and bee populations are down too. Just hope this warmer weather kick things off again.
I walk the country lanes most days here. Butterflies are very few and far between at the moment.
I can't make any personal assessment as I moved property at the tail end of last year and inherited a modern urban garden (i.e. rather small). Thus any comparison is reset. At the moment I'm proverbially working from the bottom up. Encouraging the inverts that are here and building their populations. Worms, spiders, ground beetles. Pollinating insects are generally thin on the ground here. Yesterday I did see a honeybee. It turned its nose up at a brachyglottis (landed extremely briefly and buggered off, ignoring all the other flowers on the multiple brachyglottis). There were some solitary bee species a month back, looking for nesting sites (investigating holes).