Findings for 2003

The year 2003 was a relatively good year for butterflies , ranking 10th highest of the series (1976-2003) and the best year since 1997 .

Of the 50 species and generations for which overall indices of abundance were calculated, 30 increased from 2002 to 2003 and for 12 of these the index more than doubled.

There were four highest indices ever - Adonis blue second generation, Red admiral , Comma and Ringlet .

In general, migrant species did well with Painted Lady having its second highest index of the series, only bettered by 1996. The summer broods of bivoltine species also fared well as did univoltine species with summer flight periods. Numbers of Small Heath and Speckled Wood also increased at the majority of sites.

No species produced its lowest collated index in 2003. Species which fared less well were those flying in the spring, including first generations of bivoltine species such as Small White and Large White , counts of Peacock and Brimstone after over-winter survival and univoltine species emerging at that time of the year such as Green Hairstreak .

The full report for the 2004 season is now available. (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this report. If you do not have it installed already, it can be downloaded and installed for free.)