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No. 46 NEWSLETTER Summer 2000
WEST MIDLANDS BRANCH, BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION
1999
WEST MIDLANDS
BUTTERFLY AND MOTH
ANNUAL REVIEW (2)
West Midlands Top Ten (1998 position and totals in brackets)
|
1. Meadow Brown |
(1) | 13,256 (7,662) |
| 2. Ringlet | (3) | 7,839 (6,122) |
| 3. Gatekeeper | (4) | 7,787 (6,114) |
| 4. Speckled Wood | (2) | 5,612 (6,620) |
| 5. Green-veined White | (5) | 2,462 (4,210) |
| 6. Peacock | (6) | 2,056 (2,161) |
| 7. Marbled White | (8) | 1,618 (1,838) |
| 8. Large Skipper | (9) | 1,348 (1,525) |
| 9. Large White | (7) | 1,163 (2,050) |
| 10. Small Skipper | (-) | 1,079 (801) |
National Top Ten (1998 position and totals in brackets)
|
1. Meadow Brown |
(1) | 60,195 (61,255) |
| 2. Gatekeeper | (3) | 12,898 (10,192) |
| 3. Ringlet | (2) | 11,540 (10,315) |
| 4. Green-veined White | (4) | 9,349 (9,442) |
| 5. Speckled Wood | (5) | 6,822 (6,956) |
| 6. Small Skipper | (11) | 6,633 (4,803) |
| 7. Common Blue | (10) | 6,618 (4,832) |
| 8. Small Heath | (6) | 6,200 (6,495) |
| 9. Chalkhill Blue | (8) | 6,183 (6,334) |
| 10. Marbled White | (7) | 5,551 (6,345) |
Butterfly of the Year awards
1999 Weather Summary
Butterfly of the Year: Meadow Brown (Runner-up: Comma)
Most improved performance: Ringlet
Wooden spoon: High Brown Fritillary (Runner-up: Small Copper)
Migrant of the Year: Withheld
1999 was notable for a return to wetter weather, this being the wettest in 17
years and the fifth wettest year this century. The summer months of April, June,
August and September were particularly wet with these last two months being the
second and third wettest this century respectively. July and September were the
only months with above average sunshine. However it was generally mild with June
being the only month with below average temperatures. January began the year
with a very wet start having twice the monthly average. February and March tried
to redress this imbalance but didn’t help much with only slightly less than
average themselves. All three months were slightly warmer than average with
about average sunshine.
| Table showing the number of Rainfall and Sunshine days as well as the number of Potential Butterfly Flying Days - 1999 (WEST MIDLANDS) | ||||||||
| MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | |
| Days with >1.0mm rainfall | 13 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 9 |
| Days with >1.0mm rainfall 10-1700 (BST) | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Days with >1.0mm rainfall 10-1700- weekends | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| No of days with at least 1 hours sunshine | 20 | 21 | 25 | 25 | 31 | 24 | 26 | 23 |
| No of days with at least 1 hrs sunshine & 13 C or dull & 17 C (Potential adult flying days) | 8 | 13 | 25 | 27 | 31 | 30 | 28 | 18 |
April had a lot of rainfall but most of it fell on four or five days and so with
warm temperatures and average sunshine there were quite a lot of potential
flying days (see below). In May total sunshine hours were down yet it was dry
and there were quite a lot of available flying days. After a sequence of dull
wet June months in previous years this June also started on a wet note and ended
with below average temperatures and was the dullest since 1983. July was the
driest and sunniest since 1990 and showed a return to one of those dry hot and
very sunny months giving the maximum flying days possible of 31. Those
conditions abruptly ended in August with a very wet period which resulted in a
lot of dull conditions. Wet weather occurred again in September from mid month
onwards but sunshine and temperatures were kept above average. Rounding off the
butterfly year, October saw a lot of sunny weather producing an Indian summer
for the late species.
| Weather Summary for the Summer 1999 (Values expressed as a percentage of monthly average) | ||||||||
| APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | |||
| Monthly Rainfall | 167 | 91 | 129 | 32 | 173 | 187 | ||
| Monthly Sunshine | 97 | 72 | 99 | 128 | 91 | 119 | ||
| Monthly Mean Maximum Temp | 116 | 111 | 96 | 114 | 102 | 115 | ||
As a reminder about the last 13 years, the final table summarizes the total
number of potential butterfly flying days given the usual criteria of each day
reaching at least 17 degrees C or 13 degrees C with one hour of sunshine. The
reason that 1999 did so well was that March and October were quite mild and so
extended the season markedly. This means that the year was not such a bad end to
the last century as the rain might make you to believe!
Mike Averill
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