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Grayling (Hipparchia semele)
© Nick Greatorex-Davies
The Grayling is now largely confined to coastal habitats in Britain (having disappeared from many of its inland sites due to changes in land-use), where it occurs on well-drained sites in short open grassland where the vegetation is sparse and where there are plenty of patches of bare ground. The larvae feed on various grasses, but especially fine-leaved species. (For further details on this species see http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/).
Family: Satyridae
Status: Rapid decline
Status details:
Status since 1976 is Rapid decline with a decrease of -49.8%
Status over the last 20 years is Stable with a decrease of -19%
Status over the last 10 years is Stable with a decrease of -26.2%
Back to the topLog collated index plot
This chart shows the index of abundance (LCI = Log Collated Index) over time. It shows fluctuations in populations from year to year, and is scaled so that the average index over the whole series is equal to 2 (horizontal line). For greater detail about how this index is derived, click on the green question mark above.
Trend description:
The trend for this species shows a highly significant decline over the monitoring period. There was a particularly sharp drop in 1985-6 from which the species made a partial recovery in the years 1989-90 following its second lowest index of the series in 1988. Since 1990 there has been a general pattern of decline and the butterfly produced its lowest index of the series in 2002. Climate change and warmer summer temperatures would be expected to improve conditions for this butterfly in the UK. However continued habitat destruction and lack of appropriate management to maintain suitable habitat seem to be the main factors in this decline.
Distribution...
This map shows the distribution between 1995 and 1999. Data is derived from the Butterflies for the New Millenium dataset via the NBN Gateway (www.searchnbn.net).
View the distribution on the NBN GatewayPhenology...
Phenology plot
Phenology plot
This chart shows the average number of butterflies seen on transects between Arpil and October. The black line gives average counts over the full BMS series (1976 to date) and the red line gives the average for the last year.
Abundance...
Abundance
This map shows symbols for the mean abundance at transect sites, with the size of symbol reflecting the level of abundance. Means are over all years.
Coverage
In total, Grayling has been recorded from 294 transects in the Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. Of these, annual indices of abundance have been calculated from 225 sites, with an average index of 39 individuals per site.
For 114 of these sites, Grayling has been recorded well enough to calculate annual indices of abundance in 6 or more years, allowing trends to be calculated.
In 2006, 6216 individuals were recorded from 92 sites, producing annual indices at 72 of these.
This map shows the trend in abundance at particular transect sites. Trends (increasing, declining or stable) are assessed at sites where the species has more than five years of annual index data. Click on the green question mark next to the species name above for more details on how trends are calculated.
Links to lists of sites with particular statuses
• Extinct sites (4)
• Colonised sites (2)
- Stable sites (42)
- Declining sites (20)
- Increasing sites (6)
