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The Suffolk Argus
Summer 2003 Butterfly transects
Why Monitor Butterflies?
Butterfly transects are the most accurate way to check how butterfly populations are faring on individual sites. A transect is a walk around a particular area (perhaps a favourite walll near your home) during which all of the butterflies seen are counted. The route remains the same each time and the transect is walked during fine weather every week from April until the end of September. Clearly, this requires commitment from recorders, although transects can be shared by groups of people each walking a cenain number of weeks. Some transects are set up to focus on panicular rare species. These are quicker to do as only the focus speciesis recorded and are done for shoner periods of ilie year (i.e. during the flight period of the species concerned). The information gained fro~ transect monitoring is immensely useful, especially if the same transect is walked for many years. When data are brought together from a large number of sites, regional and national indices can be generated. The key value of such annual monitoring; is that it provides early warnings of species declinb, at a time when conservation action can be most effective and before species are lost from whole sitCSjand areas. Transects not only provide accurate assessments of how each speciesis doing every year, but enable us to investigate many questions about butterfly ecology and how habitat management and the weather affect populations. The BC transect project, which has collated data from over 500 transects inv61ving2000 volunteer recorders, has already provided imponant information to the Department of the Erivironment, Food and Rural Affairs. For example, we now know that the Government's green limning schemes are helping to slow the declines of many butterfly species.Impressed at the quality ofBC's monitoring, DEFRA have now extended their funding of this project, specifically to investigate h<j>whabitat management affects different butterfly species. Despite the success of the project so far, more transects are needed, particularly in northern England, Wales and Scotland and in farmland, urban, wetland, upland and coastal habitats. Your butterfly transect records could end 1 up on a Minister's desk and help improve the future of the countryside for butterflies.
by RichardFox Surveys Manager &
Dr. TomBrereton Senior Monitoring Ecologist, Butterfly Conservation Butterfly monitoring is the foundation upon which conservation is built, as it allows us to assess trends, identify priorities and measure the effectiveness of conservation action. It is also one of the areas in which BC's wlunteers excel and, therefore, a major strength of the Society. Anyone can help with butterfly monitoring and we need to maintain a thriving community of volunteers to provide vital ongoing information. This article aims to clarify the main monitoring projects undertaken by BC members and explain how the data gathered play an essential role in conservation.
What is monitoring? By 'monitoring' we mean collecting information that can be used to determine how well butterflies are f.u-ing.This might be at the level of an individual colony or site (e.g. using the butterfly transect method) or across counties, regions or countries. Most monitoring carried out by BC members falls into two main activities: walking butterfly transects and general butterfly recording as part of the Butterfliesfor the New Millennium (BNM) project. Both types of monitoring provide essential, but different, information that enables BC to conserve butterflies effectively.Abundance data from transects and distribution data from BNM recording compliment each other and together provide a much clearerpicture of how butterflies are f.u-ingthan could be gained from either type of monitoring alone.
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Planning Decisions: • one victory & one defeat by RichardStewart First, the defeat. Permission to build 154 houses on Hayhill allotments in Ipswich marks the end of a long, well-lead and high profile local campaign to prevent development and instead turn the site into an urban nature reservewhich would have had a wide variety of habitats, been linked directly to the old Ipswich cemetery and the 'green corridor' of the Ipswich to Felixstowe railway line and have been a rare instance of such a rich biodiversity within a few hundred yards of the centre of Ipswich. In addition those of us lucky enough to have a key could also appreciate the superb views over Ipswich from its highest areas near the old cemetery. It will be in teresring to see how the drainage and potential flooding problems are addressed, since the topography of the site is difficult for development. This was always going ro be a
Green Hairstreak
difficult battle to win as it was essentially a very local campaign and not that many people had access to enjoy the area on a regular basis. I was fortunate to visit it from 1997 onwards and my butterfly survey of that year produced 19 species, far more than you get in nearby Christchurch Park. These included Purple Hairstreak, Green Hairstreak and Brown Argus. However, by the rime crucial decisions were being made about an area already earmarked for housing, the site had been allowed to deteriorate, with hardly any of the private allotments being worked, and on our last visit, early autumn 2002, Marie and I had difficulty getting through paths that had previously been kept clear. Consequently recent wildlife audits correctly pointed our that there was now no suitable habitat available for several of the butterfly species recorded in 1997 and concluded that the site had rapidly deteriorated in its wildlife value in recent years. It is just a pity that councillors didn't have the long-term vision to imagine how rich this site could have become, once again, given sufficient input of resources to recreate the original habitats. Piper's Vale was always a better bet for victory: the council faced with cries of betrayal ifit declassified an existing designated local nature reserve, the combined forces of all the local conservation groups and the Suffolk Wildlife Trust against the link road proposal and the fond memories of the whole area that went well beyond those of naturalists, courting couples, dog walkers, childhood memories of freedom and using the outdoor swimming pool all helped to produce a total of 948 objections, out of a complete number of 1561 individuals who made representations about the combined local plan. Butterfly Conservation was able to include in its objection the fact that all of Suffolk's breeding butterflies have been recorded on site or close by, except for Dingy Skipper, White Admiral and Silver-studded Blue. However, vigilance is still needed. The plan has been deleted but not completely dropped. Most of us thought it was all over in 1988 after mass protests, so it could reappear in future years.
byJim Foster 17
