2023 Annual Butterfly Report

The branch would like to thank everyone who sent in records in 2023, which really do make a positive difference when it comes to making informed conservation decisions. Whether your contribution is the occasional record, contribution to a transect that is walked week in and week out, or participation in an organised effort such as the Garden Butterfly Survey, your records are very much appreciated.

2023 Summary

Below is a summary of 2023, with links to individual species provided below. In the tetrad coverage chart (a tetrad is an area of 2 km by 2 km), the darker the circle, the greater the recording effort, based on a logarithmic scale. This methodology better illustrates the 'cold spots' that require more targeted effort in coming field seasons. If you would like more information regarding unrecorded tetrads then please contact the County Butterfly Recorder.

#Records	150,860
#Individuals	555,895
#Tetrads (populated)	1,061
#Species	49
#Recorders	4,531

Species (ordered by populated tetrads)

Vernacular Name	#Tetrads	#Records	#Individuals	#Earliest Record	#Latest Record
Red Admiral	953	14,786	41,633	2/1/2023	30/12/2023
Small White	890	13,317	40,785	15/2/2023	7/11/2023
Meadow Brown	884	16,963	135,667	21/5/2023	24/10/2023
Gatekeeper	881	13,112	73,311	10/6/2023	25/9/2023
Large White	881	11,700	30,159	2/4/2023	7/11/2023
Peacock	870	9,127	25,435	6/1/2023	31/12/2023
Brimstone	814	11,323	27,488	2/1/2023	28/11/2023
Comma	777	4,875	7,914	15/2/2023	11/11/2023
Holly Blue	723	7,168	13,013	27/3/2023	15/11/2023
Common Blue	696	5,189	13,902	25/4/2023	18/10/2023
Speckled Wood	668	9,296	17,989	2/4/2023	15/11/2023
Small Copper	586	2,807	4,686	7/4/2023	7/11/2023
Green-veined White	527	2,520	4,342	6/4/2023	17/10/2023
Marbled White	510	3,497	21,842	30/5/2023	21/8/2023
Small Tortoiseshell	506	1,545	2,386	6/2/2023	7/11/2023
Ringlet	496	3,199	13,729	4/6/2023	3/9/2023
Painted Lady	482	1,343	2,002	9/4/2023	7/11/2023
Orange-tip	367	1,554	2,526	3/4/2023	22/6/2023
Small Skipper	342	1,715	8,110	4/6/2023	10/9/2023
Large Skipper	314	2,076	7,350	22/5/2023	22/8/2023
Small Heath	301	3,231	11,196	7/5/2023	3/10/2023
Brown Argus	237	1,927	6,383	7/5/2023	9/10/2023
Silver-washed Fritillary	227	1,716	4,777	15/6/2023	5/9/2023
Essex Skipper	135	378	1,141	11/6/2023	16/8/2023
White Admiral	116	531	1,191	13/6/2023	20/8/2023
Silver-studded Blue	100	861	8,953	6/6/2023	28/8/2023
Green Hairstreak	88	233	431	20/4/2023	27/6/2023
Clouded Yellow	85	158	202	23/3/2023	24/10/2023
Dark Green Fritillary	82	531	1,707	14/6/2023	4/9/2023
Purple Hairstreak	77	183	445	14/6/2023	2/9/2023
Small Blue	67	465	2,094	16/5/2023	15/9/2023
Dingy Skipper	66	364	1,200	20/4/2023	2/9/2023
Grayling	62	483	1,459	22/6/2023	25/9/2023
Chalk Hill Blue	61	1,019	15,155	29/6/2023	29/9/2023
Grizzled Skipper	58	309	930	20/4/2023	22/6/2023
Wall	57	197	352	20/4/2023	7/10/2023
Brown Hairstreak	42	149	922	19/7/2023	25/9/2023
Duke of Burgundy	29	122	645	7/4/2023	9/6/2023
White-letter Hairstreak	29	69	270	10/6/2023	6/8/2023
Adonis Blue	28	284	1,054	17/5/2023	29/9/2023
Purple Emperor	27	59	170	22/6/2023	23/7/2023
Glanville Fritillary	18	126	724	16/5/2023	29/6/2023
Silver-spotted Skipper	15	69	268	25/7/2023	14/9/2023
Marsh Fritillary	12	53	364	13/5/2023	26/6/2023
Pearl-bordered Fritillary	10	212	912	10/5/2023	14/6/2023
Large Tortoiseshell	10	11	11	3/4/2023	17/7/2023
Long-tailed Blue	5	13	40	12/9/2023	24/10/2023
Camberwell Beauty	1	1	1	24/6/2023	24/6/2023

Species (ordered by taxonomic classification)

Family	Subfamily	Genus	Species	Vernacular Name	Checklist No.
Hesperiidae	Pyrginae	Erynnis	tages	Dingy Skipper	57.001
Hesperiidae	Pyrginae	Pyrgus	malvae	Grizzled Skipper	57.002
Hesperiidae	Hesperiinae	Thymelicus	lineola	Essex Skipper	57.005
Hesperiidae	Hesperiinae	Thymelicus	sylvestris	Small Skipper	57.006
Hesperiidae	Hesperiinae	Hesperia	comma	Silver-spotted Skipper	57.008
Hesperiidae	Hesperiinae	Ochlodes	sylvanus	Large Skipper	57.009
Pieridae	Pierinae	Anthocharis	cardamines	Orange-tip	58.003
Pieridae	Pierinae	Pieris	brassicae	Large White	58.006
Pieridae	Pierinae	Pieris	rapae	Small White	58.007
Pieridae	Pierinae	Pieris	napi	Green-veined White	58.008
Pieridae	Coliadinae	Colias	croceus	Clouded Yellow	58.010
Pieridae	Coliadinae	Gonepteryx	rhamni	Brimstone	58.013
Nymphalidae	Satyrinae	Lasiommata	megera	Wall	59.002
Nymphalidae	Satyrinae	Pararge	aegeria	Speckled Wood	59.003
Nymphalidae	Satyrinae	Coenonympha	pamphilus	Small Heath	59.005
Nymphalidae	Satyrinae	Aphantopus	hyperantus	Ringlet	59.009
Nymphalidae	Satyrinae	Maniola	jurtina	Meadow Brown	59.010
Nymphalidae	Satyrinae	Pyronia	tithonus	Gatekeeper	59.011
Nymphalidae	Satyrinae	Melanargia	galathea	Marbled White	59.012
Nymphalidae	Satyrinae	Hipparchia	semele	Grayling	59.013
Nymphalidae	Heliconiinae	Boloria	euphrosyne	Pearl-bordered Fritillary	59.014
Nymphalidae	Heliconiinae	Boloria	selene	Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary	59.015
Nymphalidae	Heliconiinae	Argynnis	paphia	Silver-washed Fritillary	59.017
Nymphalidae	Heliconiinae	Speyeria	aglaja	Dark Green Fritillary	59.019
Nymphalidae	Limenitidinae	Limenitis	camilla	White Admiral	59.021
Nymphalidae	Apaturinae	Apatura	iris	Purple Emperor	59.022
Nymphalidae	Nymphalinae	Vanessa	atalanta	Red Admiral	59.023
Nymphalidae	Nymphalinae	Vanessa	cardui	Painted Lady	59.024
Nymphalidae	Nymphalinae	Aglais	io	Peacock	59.026
Nymphalidae	Nymphalinae	Aglais	urticae	Small Tortoiseshell	59.027
Nymphalidae	Nymphalinae	Nymphalis	antiopa	Camberwell Beauty	59.028
Nymphalidae	Nymphalinae	Nymphalis	polychloros	Large Tortoiseshell	59.029
Nymphalidae	Nymphalinae	Polygonia	c-album	Comma	59.031
Nymphalidae	Nymphalinae	Euphydryas	aurinia	Marsh Fritillary	59.033
Nymphalidae	Nymphalinae	Melitaea	cinxia	Glanville Fritillary	59.034
Riodinidae	Riodininae	Hamearis	lucina	Duke of Burgundy	60.001
Lycaenidae	Lycaeninae	Lycaena	phlaeas	Small Copper	61.001
Lycaenidae	Theclinae	Thecla	betulae	Brown Hairstreak	61.003
Lycaenidae	Theclinae	Favonius	quercus	Purple Hairstreak	61.004
Lycaenidae	Theclinae	Callophrys	rubi	Green Hairstreak	61.005
Lycaenidae	Theclinae	Satyrium	w-album	White-letter Hairstreak	61.006
Lycaenidae	Polyommatinae	Cupido	minimus	Small Blue	61.010
Lycaenidae	Polyommatinae	Celastrina	argiolus	Holly Blue	61.012
Lycaenidae	Polyommatinae	Plebejus	argus	Silver-studded Blue	61.014
Lycaenidae	Polyommatinae	Aricia	agestis	Brown Argus	61.015
Lycaenidae	Polyommatinae	Polyommatus	icarus	Common Blue	61.018
Lycaenidae	Polyommatinae	Polyommatus	bellargus	Adonis Blue	61.019
Lycaenidae	Polyommatinae	Polyommatus	coridon	Chalk Hill Blue	61.020

Transect Trends

The data in the table below table is based on 164 transects across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

The Branch is very fortunate to have a network of dedicated transect recorders, and we'd like to express our grateful thanks to all involved.

Please Note

The aggregated data represents individual butterflies recorded on transect, and because of the consistent methodology, gives the most accurate measure of change in population size from one year to the next for common species. It must be recognised, however, that the figures presented are only of actual butterflies recorded, and do not include estimates for missed weeks. As a consequence, those species with short flight periods, and rarer species recorded on few transects, may be significantly affected by missed weeks due to bad weather. Bear this in mind when making a comparison between one year and another.

The percentage change values (from transect data) are not included for species poorly represented on transect, as there is too little data to generate meaningful figures. The species affected in this way are: Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (possibly now extinct in H&IOW), Purple Emperor, Marsh Fritillary, Glanville Fritillary, Brown Hairstreak, Purple Hairstreak, and White-letter Hairstreak. For these species, a better measure of performance in one year relative to another is the total number of records and individuals received from all sources, although it must be recognised that such data are not collected in a consistent way, and will be greatly affected by the weather and recorder effort.

Although transect data offers the most consistent approach to monitoring change in butterfly numbers, total records received from all sources benefits from the greater volume of data. When using the online report to interpret overall change for a given species from one year to the next it is recommended that the figures from both the transect data and total records are jointly evaluated.

Tetrad data based on all records received is the best measure of distributional change of a species from one year to the next and over longer time periods. This is based on all data received.

Species	2023 Count	2022 Count	2023 Combined Transect Trend
Adonis Blue	514	457	+12%
Brimstone	15869	7762	+104%
Brown Argus	4104	1205	+240%
Chalk Hill Blue	7496	12979	-42%
Clouded Yellow	34	223	-84%
Comma	2148	1863	+15%
Common Blue	6885	6062	+13%
Dark Green Fritillary	1380	1521	-9%
Dingy Skipper	409	633	-35%
Duke of Burgundy	56	93	-39%
Essex Skipper	651	351	+85%
Gatekeeper	42371	23351	+81%
Grayling	886	918	-3%
Green Hairstreak	172	213	-19%
Green-veined White	2140	2636	-18%
Grizzled Skipper	295	253	+16%
Holly Blue	4617	1339	+244%
Large Skipper	5521	3068	+79%
Large White	7548	5135	+46%
Marbled White	13965	10369	+34%
Meadow Brown	87130	51749	+68%
Orange-tip	1376	1555	-11%
Painted Lady	391	437	-10%
Peacock	7850	3081	+154%
Pearl-bordered Fritillary	480	350	+37%
Red Admiral	10079	1417	+611%
Ringlet	9727	15264	-36%
Silver-spotted Skipper	46	109	-57%
Silver-studded Blue	5706	5540	+2%
Silver-washed Fritillary	3450	3502	-1%
Small Blue	1178	908	+29%
Small Copper	1667	489	+240%
Small Heath	7032	4723	+48%
Small Skipper	3678	2587	+42%
Small Tortoiseshell	501	905	-44%
Small White	14319	8832	+62%
Small/Essex Skipper	7605	5560	+36%
Speckled Wood	10194	9530	+6%
Wall Brown	134	214	-37%
White Admiral	653	570	+14%