UK's Meadows - 98% Now Gone - We Have Run Out of Time

Lootman · #598388

JohnB wrote:No meadows in lootmanland then

Au contraire, plenty of them, as long as you do not demand a subsidy for them.

GoSeigen · #598470

Only a troll could read "The meadows in our nature reserves are actively managed." and then write "wallow in the bliss of its natural state [...] do not expect the rest of us to subsidise your bliss."

We are most certainly not wallowing in the bliss of our restored indigenous river courses. It's bloody hard work.

GS

Sorcery · #598554

Not many butterflies here either, one or two. However there are lots of flies (the irritating ones that want to land on your skin), a lot of moths attracted to the light after dark and similarly May bugs. Lots of different bumble bees too. The May bugs seem to come in 2 sizes about 1 inch long or a half inch (sex difference?), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockchafer

It''s been a cold windy spring, didn't feel warm until early June and has continued that way. Heard June might be a record breaker nationally. Not sure I would have wanted to be a butterfly pre-June, too cold and windy. Perhaps they are just late?

BullDog · #598556

Sorcery wrote:Not many butterflies here either, one or two. However there are lots of flies (the irritating ones that want to land on your skin), a lot of moths attracted to the light after dark and similarly May bugs. Lots of different bumble bees too. The May bugs seem to come in 2 sizes about 1 inch long or a half inch (sex difference?), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockchafer

It''s been a cold windy spring, didn't feel warm until early June and has continued that way. Heard June might be a record breaker nationally. Not sure I would have wanted to be a butterfly pre-June, too cold and windy. Perhaps they are just late?

Maybe. But it's the first time ever I can recall having salvia and buddleia in flower and not seeing a butterfly.

Tedx · #598571

BBC Radio News interviewing large groups of youths at Birmingham airport. All were 'really anxious' about the climate and climate change..... as they prepared to jet off to the sunny islands.

''da guvvermint must da summink. It's our future innit?'

<head in hands>

Sorcery · #598632

BullDog wrote:e first time ever I can recall having salvia and buddleia in flower and not seeing a butterfly.

That made me want to check mine : Only one of my 6 buddleias is blossoming, the rest have unopened flower heads. I am in Guernsey, where are you?

BullDog · #598635

Sorcery wrote:
BullDog wrote:e first time ever I can recall having salvia and buddleia in flower and not seeing a butterfly.

That made me want to check mine : Only one of my 6 buddleias is blossoming, the rest have unopened flower heads. I am in Guernsey, where are you?

I'm a bit further North. I guess it depends on the variety whether it's flowering now or not? I'm a bit surprised yours aren't flowering yet though in Guernsey.

Sorcery · #598662

BullDog wrote:
Sorcery wrote:
That made me want to check mine : Only one of my 6 buddleias is blossoming, the rest have unopened flower heads. I am in Guernsey, where are you?

I'm a bit further North. I guess it depends on the variety whether it's flowering now or not? I'm a bit surprised yours aren't flowering yet though in Guernsey.

While Guernsey gets a lot of Sun, it also had a lot of wind 25mph+ and cold 11-13 degrees Centigrade until end of May. Would guess Guernsey is behind the UK this year.

BullDog · #600615

BullDog wrote:Not only midges. This summer I have seen just two butterflies in my garden. The salvia and the buddleia are in flower. Not a butterfly to be seen. Bees and hover flies are here, but no butterflies. Very concerning.

Thought it was worth updating this. Better late than never, it seems. Buddleia has been inhabited by plenty of bugs and butterflies the last couple of days. Later than usual but lots of hover flies, bees and several butterfly species. Tortoiseshell, Comma, Peacock and Cabbage White all present yesterday and today. Lovely to see.

Sorcery · #601450

BullDog wrote:
BullDog wrote:Not only midges. This summer I have seen just two butterflies in my garden. The salvia and the buddleia are in flower. Not a butterfly to be seen. Bees and hover flies are here, but no butterflies. Very concerning.

Thought it was worth updating this. Better late than never, it seems. Buddleia has been inhabited by plenty of bugs and butterflies the last couple of days. Later than usual but lots of hover flies, bees and several butterfly species. Tortoiseshell, Comma, Peacock and Cabbage White all present yesterday and today. Lovely to see.

Yes, I am seeing quite a few butterflies now too. Buddleias have now bloomed also. Have seen a Red Admiral, a few cabbage whites and 3 that were moving too fast for identification. Not a great number but am hoping it get's better.

BullDog · #604734

BullDog wrote:
BullDog wrote:Not only midges. This summer I have seen just two butterflies in my garden. The salvia and the buddleia are in flower. Not a butterfly to be seen. Bees and hover flies are here, but no butterflies. Very concerning.

Thought it was worth updating this. Better late than never, it seems. Buddleia has been inhabited by plenty of bugs and butterflies the last couple of days. Later than usual but lots of hover flies, bees and several butterfly species. Tortoiseshell, Comma, Peacock and Cabbage White all present yesterday and today. Lovely to see.

And after nearly three weeks of rain the sun comes out and so do the butterflies too. Ten minutes watching one buddliea and I saw - Comma, Peacock, Orange tip, Red admiral, Tortoiseshell, two more types of white probably large and small white. And one unidentified small blue and one small brown butterflies. Better late than never it seems. I'm off to Google now to see if I can determine the two small unidentified ones.

bungeejumper · #604790

Likewise. Masses of butterflies seen in the garden over the last two weeks, including two red admirals that were copulating on the door of my car. It felt a bit brutal to drive off and leave the young lovers with nothing but their floral illusions. Still, job done I suppose?

Bees are back in the redundant chimney stack. Wasps in the ivy, where one stung me this morning. I daresay somebody will tell me it was my fault for disturbing them?

Bit of a fun article in the Grauniad yesterday from the wonderfully named Lady Isabella Tree, who runs 3,500 acres of "rewilded" land in Sussex (and makes a tourist safari attraction out of it) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... rsh-garden.

Okay, Lady Tree is the first to agree that if you've "only" (:lol:) got 50 acres of garden you'll have to simulate your rewilding project by actively damaging trees and stuff so that it looks like what nature would have done "by chance". Thank you for your input, your ladyship.

But she does at least make the point that it isn't enough to stand back and let all the weeds in nature reconquer your land, because all you'll end up with is a monoculture of all the most invasive weeds, which will probably not look like a meadow at all :lol:

. The implied message is that, if you're not prepared to put in endless weeks of land stewardship, it's a good question why you're bothering at all?

Me, I've just spent a couple of weeks trying to kill the achillea (yarrow) that has been invading our lawn ever since the greenies eco-warriors over the road decided to seed the churchyard with it. Makes dogs ill, causes miscarriages in humans, potentially fatal to sheep - but hey, it's nature's way, isn't it?

BJ

BullDog · #604799

BullDog wrote:
BullDog wrote:Thought it was worth updating this. Better late than never, it seems. Buddleia has been inhabited by plenty of bugs and butterflies the last couple of days. Later than usual but lots of hover flies, bees and several butterfly species. Tortoiseshell, Comma, Peacock and Cabbage White all present yesterday and today. Lovely to see.

And after nearly three weeks of rain the sun comes out and so do the butterflies too. Ten minutes watching one buddliea and I saw - Comma, Peacock, Orange tip, Red admiral, Tortoiseshell, two more types of white probably large and small white. And one unidentified small blue and one small brown butterflies. Better late than never it seems. I'm off to Google now to see if I can determine the two small unidentified ones.

Well, it seems most likely that I saw a Common blue (first one I can remember seeing here though). The description of what I saw more closely matches a Small blue, but Google doesn't seem to think they should be found around here.

The small brown butterfly I saw remains unknown because there's quite a few possibilities. In any case, it's just very nice to see them here.

Pendrainllwyn · #604882

bungeejumper wrote:Bit of a fun article in the Grauniad yesterday from the wonderfully named Lady Isabella Tree, who runs 3,500 acres of "rewilded" land in Sussex (and makes a tourist safari attraction out of it) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... rsh-garden.

Isabella Trees' book Wilding - The Return of Nature to a British Farm is a worthwhile and inspiring read. She is highly privileged and is able to attract experts and government funding for her schemes that most of us could but dream of. Having said that, she and her husband have done some remarkable things and I wish them well.

Pendrainllwyn

Sorcery · #605683

Have just seen my first poplar hawk moth. Think it's the biggest moth I have ever seen, wingspan at the bottom is 6.5cm. It landed on my conservatory carpet yesterday evening and has stayed very still since. It's not dead but it's relaxed about hands very close to it, it moves when touched.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2 ... ification/

Sorcery · #606021

Sorcery wrote:Have just seen my first poplar hawk moth. Think it's the biggest moth I have ever seen, wingspan at the bottom is 6.5cm. It landed on my conservatory carpet yesterday evening and has stayed very still since. It's not dead but it's relaxed about hands very close to it, it moves when touched.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2 ... ification/

Then something happened, about 23:30 last night it had gone. A little later saw it circling the light in the room where the story started. Switched light off. Your job is to find a mate, I thought. Think it has left the building, hopefully for a good sh*g.

It's not as bad as the OP suggests imv.

AsleepInYorkshire · #606085

Sorcery wrote:
Sorcery wrote:Have just seen my first poplar hawk moth. Think it's the biggest moth I have ever seen, wingspan at the bottom is 6.5cm. It landed on my conservatory carpet yesterday evening and has stayed very still since. It's not dead but it's relaxed about hands very close to it, it moves when touched.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2 ... ification/

Then something happened, about 23:30 last night it had gone. A little later saw it circling the light in the room where the story started. Switched light off. Your job is to find a mate, I thought. Think it has left the building, hopefully for a good sh*g.

It's not as bad as the OP suggests imv.

Butterfly Conservation
Butterflies and moths are among the most threatened groups of wildlife in the UK.

Moths are often misunderstood, but they hold vital roles in the wildlife ecosystem.
Since 1914 there have been 56 moth extinctions. Six of these have since recolonised or been re-found.

The abundance of the UK’s larger moths has crashed during the past 40 years with three species becoming extinct since 2000.

The State of Britain’s Larger Moths Report 2013 found that two-thirds of common and widespread larger species (macro-moths) declined in the last 40 years. The losses in abundance were much greater in the southern half of Britain than the north.

AiY(D)
Edit: Missed this off

The State of Britain’s Larger Moths 2021 report is now available.
https://butterfly-conservation.org/site ... rt2021.pdf

Kind regards

AiY(D)

Sorcery · #606408

AsleepInYorkshire wrote:
Sorcery wrote:
Then something happened, about 23:30 last night it had gone. A little later saw it circling the light in the room where the story started. Switched light off. Your job is to find a mate, I thought. Think it has left the building, hopefully for a good sh*g.

It's not as bad as the OP suggests imv.

Butterfly Conservation
Butterflies and moths are among the most threatened groups of wildlife in the UK.

Moths are often misunderstood, but they hold vital roles in the wildlife ecosystem.
Since 1914 there have been 56 moth extinctions. Six of these have since recolonised or been re-found.

The abundance of the UK’s larger moths has crashed during the past 40 years with three species becoming extinct since 2000.

The State of Britain’s Larger Moths Report 2013 found that two-thirds of common and widespread larger species (macro-moths) declined in the last 40 years. The losses in abundance were much greater in the southern half of Britain than the north.

AiY(D)
Edit: Missed this off

The State of Britain’s Larger Moths 2021 report is now available.
https://butterfly-conservation.org/site ... rt2021.pdf

Kind regards
AiY(D)[/quote

The report you linked to https://butterfly-conservation.org/site ... rt2021.pdf says this :

The headline results conceal a complex pattern
of change, driven by radical changes to the
environment and climate caused by human
activity. More ecologically specialised and
larger bodied moths are faring badly, while
small, generalist species prosper, but there are
many exceptions.
These findings do not reflect the recent ‘insect
Armageddon’ narrative or apocalyptic
predictions of insect extinction139, even in the
highly modified landscapes of a densely
populated island. Nevertheless, the evidence
of declines in larger moths and other insects,
both in Britain and elsewhere140, is compelling
and demands an urgent policy response141.
We can and should act now. While some positive
steps have been taken, such as Highways
England’s plan to create biodiverse, low-nutrient
grasslands on all new road schemes, much
more must be done.

On a slightly different note, it would be good if other European countries did similar studies so that we could learn from the ones doing well (if any).

XFool · #606830

Clitheroekid wrote:I think most people haven’t noticed, simply because the decline has been gradual over quite a long time, and, in any case, I suppose there are a lot of other people like myself who are only too pleased that their houses are no longer invaded by flies, moths, wasps and so on. But it made me think of when we were little children. Our garden, which was just a bug standard (sorry!) suburban garden, was filled with butterflies, and in the evening nobody dared leave a light on with a window open or the room would have been full of moths in no time.

Where I live, even in the 1980s that was still true. Going into the kitchen in the late evening and turning the light on would reveal the white ceiling had turned black. But, back then, there were also frogs, field mice, voles and owls.

Clitheroekid wrote:It would be fascinating to see a film of a suburban garden in the 1960s in high summer, if only to prove to myself that I’m not suffering from false memory syndrome! I suspect that if we were suddenly immersed in that environment now we’d find it quite startling.

There is the well known memory of how driving a car any reasonable distance at more than 30mph would cover the front and headlights in dead insects. Not now.

Sorcery · #615172

Despite the gloom around moth and butterfly declines, it seems this summer has brought a welcome increase in sightings, see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66812657

The Lemon Fool

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UK's Meadows - 98% Now Gone - We Have Run Out of Time

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Re: UK's Meadows - 98% Now Gone - We Have Run Out of Time

Re: UK's Meadows - 98% Now Gone - We Have Run Out of Time

Re: UK's Meadows - 98% Now Gone - We Have Run Out of Time

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Re: UK's Meadows - 98% Now Gone - We Have Run Out of Time

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Re: UK's Meadows - 98% Now Gone - We Have Run Out of Time

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