The Suffolk garden butterfly survey, 1994

Page 1

ö

Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 31 T H E S U F F O L K G A R D E N B U T T E R F L Y SURVEY, 1994 RICHARD G. STEWART

The Recording Form This was a double-sided sheet with one side requesting the name, address and telephone number of each recorder, a six figure map reference and details of the garden's size — small, medium (tennis court size) or large. Recorders were asked to place their gardens into a town, suburban, village or countryside category and tick boxes covering other nearby habitats — woodland, heathland arable farmland, park, rough ground or nature reserve. The rest of the first side consisted of a list of Suffolk butterflies, three columns for frequency of visiting butterflies dunng their normal flight period(s) — regulär, irregulär or once only and two columns for recording the earliest and latest sightings. The second side contained a list of garden nectar sources, and recorders were asked to note the visiting butterflies. Sections were included for records of egg laying and predation, and any additional records and observations. Distribution Recording forms and an explanatory article were sent to all members of the Suffolk Naturalists' and Ipswich and District Natural History Societies and the Suffolk branch of Butterfly Conservation. Publicity in local newspapers and on BBC Radio Suffolk produced further requests for the form and approximately 1,100 recording forms were eventually distributed.

Returns Information was received from 152 Suffolk gardens, However, some returns lacked Information on the frequency of visiting butterflies or were unsatisfactory in other ways. The grid reference was mssing from 60 forms and the decision was made to group these into the three areas currently used for bird recording. Suffolk Birds 1994 shows these areas on a map inside the front cover There was regional bias with only 34 returns from the North-East and 39 from the South-west, but 79 from the South-East (including 26 from Ipswich) Butterflies recorded Table 1 shows the species recorded, the total number of gardens in which each species was recorded and the number of gardens in which they were regulär or irregulär visitors, or seen only once. On some forms only the presence of the species was indicated and not the frequency of appearance.

Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 31 (1995)


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
The Suffolk garden butterfly survey, 1994 by Suffolk Naturalists' Society - Issuu