Lower count on a brighter day

The strong wind and rain of the early part of the week had eased down and conditions for Wednesday afternoon's transect were warm and bright. Perhaps our butterflies were still recovering from the bad weather or maybe they'd even succumbed to the wind and wetting, but this week's count of 97 was a low one. Conditions do vary from year to year: for previous Week 22 Transects the totals were: 165 (2016), 139 (2017), 60 (2018) and 247 (2019).
 
On Wednesday, Meadow Browns were still predominant but are slowly declining, while other species, i.e. Small Coppers, Small Heaths, Common Blues, Speckled Woods, Brown Argus, are into their second brood and could, if conditions are right, be seen in higher numbers in the next few weeks.

Here's the detail of our count:
69 Meadow Brown
  8 Small Heath
  7 Chalkhill Blue
  3 Brown Argus
  3 Common Blue
  2 Red Admiral
  2 Small White
  1 Brimstone
  1 Small Copper
  1 Speckled Wood
(10 species in all)
Click on butterfly names for more info.

This week's transectuals in Fames Rough. Click to enlarge.

Survey by Graham H and Brian Gardner ​submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS). 
​Report by Brian G.