Butterflies in the wet

If you go to the BBC website homepage and click 'Nature' under the 'Explore' heading down on the right, you come to a load of interesting stuff.  Scrolling down a week ago I came to an article headlined 'Some butterflies enjoy wet 2012.'  This recounted that the lush growth of grass in last year's wet summer favoured butterflies whose caterpillars eat grass.

This includes gatekeepers

meadow browns

marbled whites

and ringlets

On the other hand most butterflies did badly in the wet, notably the common blue, down in number by more than half.  In fact lots of insects sufffered in the wet weather because moulds, viruses, bacteria and fungal diseases prosper in damp conditions. 

 

Who cares?

 

Well we all should. 

 

I like insects and spiders, but even if you don't, they are an essential part of the web of life.  No caterpillars at nesting time means blue tits' and great tits' babies starve.  No tawny mining bees at apple blossom time and who will pollinate the flowers and start the fruit growing?  If ladybird and lacewing populations plummet, aphid pests have nobody feeding on them and so no check on their numbers.

Photographs are from the excellent www.ukbutterflies.co.uk.  See also www.butterfly-conservation.org and www.buglife.org.uk.