There were plenty of Red Admiral and Peacock on the white Buddleia outside the Kingfisher Hide at Martin Mere today (with Comma on the adjacent bramble).

I've only got into butterflies the last couple of years and read that buddleia was the plant to look for if you want to pick up lots of butterflies, fortunately the amount of waste ground we have in GM means plenty of buddleia - except that it doesn't translate into butterflies as I've seen hardly any buddleia being given attention so far, especially in 2015.

However I was at Minsmere in late July and noticed a fairly small clump of buddleia near the visitor centre covered in butterflies of various species mid-morning, but they had all dispersed by mid-afternoon.

Among more common species, a Clouded Yellow butterfly at Cutacre, Little Hulton, this morning

Can't say I've noticed the buddleia boycott, certainly up to last autumn anyway. There was one growing next to the bridge over the river Etherow in Compstall which was always popular with red ads, peacocks, small torts and commas. I guess as the stonework of the bridge acted as a windbreak and as a source of heat radiation that it was a favourite, so perhaps location has something to do with it. It's been cut down since last autumn which is a real pity. They left all the unsightly litter behind though.

The recent 'boycotting' of Buddleia is something noted countrywide on th UK Butterflies Forum too. No-one has an answer as to why though. I still see lots of bees using Buddleia so there must still be nectar available, as watching them they are nectaring rather than collecting pollen.

Certainly in my own garden (Warrington) I have noticed far less butterflies in the last 5 or so years...not species, actual numbers. eg only one Large White in a day where in the recent past multiple individuals would be commonplace.

Oddly, I do seem to have seen more butterflies feeding on Privet flowers in hedges near flowering Buddleia in garden than on the Buddleia itself...not sure of the significance of this tho !

I go 'butterflying' all over the place & think it's a local effect noticed in the first two posts. At certain places numbers seem down but in others numbers are higher than ever. In a trip last weekend (outside Gtr Manchester I admit) I had 21 species of butterflies in one woodland, with large numbers of many species. Felt like a throwback to when I was little & butterflies seemed more plentiful in my memories

Although I do seem to notice butterflies using buddleia less, this seems to have been a trend I have noticed over the past few years. In contrast bramble patches near to the buddleia seem to really attract nectaring butterflies, so it isn't just a lack of butterflies I am seeing here, maybe a nectaring source preference.


-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Sunday 26th of July 2015 03:34:25 PM

Up until today, I would have agreed, but in the two spots I covered - fields just off Sunfield estate where I live, and another site in Romiley, I had no less than 361 butterflies including four record species counts for the sites (e.g. 96 gatekeepers, 90 meadow browns & 10 ringlets at site 2). Whites are certainly struggling, but browns and skippers (38 small at site one) are doing fine.

Definitely the same around Wigan, the same with moths, with low numbers of day-flying moths in grassland as well as nocturnal species. This and the associated lack of caterpillars has presumably led to the apparent low numbers of fledged Tit species, with an almost eerie lack of tit flocks in Skitters Wood by our house this year

In nearly 2 hours today on Ludworth Moor I saw only a single White sp. a few Meadow Browns and 2 Gatekeepers.

On my garden Buddleia I have had just 1 Small Tortoiseshell and 1 Red Admiral all week.

Where are all the Whites and Small Tortoiseshells this year? Has anyone else noticed a lack of common butterflies?

Cheers John