Where have all the butterflies gone?

[FrenchieBoy]

I know we have had a very poor year so far but is anyone else noticing a distinct lack of butterflies this year? WE have quite a lot of colour in our garden each year including two "Butterfly Bushes" which normally attract a good range of butterflies each year - I like to sit and watch them when I go and sit outside our door with my e-ciggy! However even though our butterfly bushes and all of other flowers in the garden are in full bloom we are seeing practically no butterflies at all this year.
Is anyone else noticing this or might it be just a local thing?

 

[finnbear270]

Not many Bees either.

 

[SCC]

My thoughts too ....i put it down to generally cold and wet compared to usual spring/summer.

 

[LuckyEddie]

Not many Bees either.

I reckon I’ve only seen about 5-10% of the normal amount of bees flying about.
I hope it’s the weather and nothing else

 

[FrenchieBoy]

Not many Bees either.

That's something that the wife has mentioned also!

 

[Jelen]

That's something that the wife has mentioned also!

Yes, mine too. She is right as there are far fewer on our Lavender than ever before. Plus our Bee Houses - normally fully occupied with Miner bees - are abandoned this year.

 

[finnbear270]

A few Toms & a couple of Courgettes set but it's very late.

 

[FrenchieBoy]

A few Toms & a couple of Courgettes set but it's very late.

Most of the flowers in our garden were quite late this year. One of our butterfly bushes (A white one) is only just taking on it's colour, it's usually in full blood and fully coloured up by mid June!!
Edit: Just a thought, if there are any bee keepers on this forum it would be interesting to hear their thoughts and views!

 

[bobo]

I noticed our decline started 15 years ago, around the same time the use of Permethrin went up, as it replaced more toxic chemicals.
No expert on insectsides, but i do know this Permethrin stuff kills any insect many weeke, maybe even month after it has been sprayed or spilled somewhere.

Here it is used a lot as it is regarded as "almost" nontoxic, just heard they even started to spray airplanes from other continents with the stuff, to kille any unwanted inseckts that may come on the planes.
As privates we can by it under the name Trinol 810, farmers and industy have different names.

Here we dont need windshield wash anymore, be lucky if there is 1 or 2 inseckts hitting the front window of the car duoing a whole summer evenings drive.

​

 

[Len the dog]

They must all be in my area, my car was plastered with bee sh*te recently. We have a row of Californian Lilacs along the front railings and it sounded like a scene from The Swarm, right next to where we park the car.

 

[Basil H]

There was a long article about this recently (13th) in the Guardian.

By a chap called Tony Juniper.

Who receives a six figure salary as Chair of Natural England.

Hopefully he might be better placed than most to address the problem.

 

[Bowland blades]

True , we are seeing none really here this year , plants are generally fine so i doubt its that bees are also way down though

 

[jall55]

Had hundreds of swallows and martins about yesterday over the fields and ponds when the wind dropped and the sun cam out - so i do think insects are about but conditions are far from ideal
I will know in a week or two when all the game cover bloom - normally they are alive with them all

 

[Mr Tree]

Neonicotinoid - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Cyres]

No butterflies on my Budhlias.
I play tennis with a chap who is an official butterfly/moth recorder for Glos and his counts so far this year have been dire.
D

 

[Tim.243]

I know we have had a very poor year so far but is anyone else noticing a distinct lack of butterflies this year? WE have quite a lot of colour in our garden each year including two "Butterfly Bushes" which normally attract a good range of butterflies each year - I like to sit and watch them when I go and sit outside our door with my e-ciggy! However even though our butterfly bushes and all of other flowers in the garden are in full bloom we are seeing practically no butterflies at all this year.
Is anyone else noticing this or might it be just a local thing?

Agent Orange is to blame Pete

 

[Len the dog]

Neonicotinoid - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Also the use of Roundup in truly industrial quantities. I believe that Glyphosate interrupts the bee’s navigational system so that they can’t pass on their information to the hive, the waggle dance.

 

[Foxyboy43]

I know we have had a very poor year so far but is anyone else noticing a distinct lack of butterflies this year? WE have quite a lot of colour in our garden each year including two "Butterfly Bushes" which normally attract a good range of butterflies each year - I like to sit and watch them when I go and sit outside our door with my e-ciggy! However even though our butterfly bushes and all of other flowers in the garden are in full bloom we are seeing practically no butterflies at all this year.
Is anyone else noticing this or might it be just a local thing?

Don’t where they are but certainly know where they were - the plants in my sodding polytunnel!
Lady FB is operating a caterpillar rehoming service pretty much full time now…..

 

[Trickyd66]

I think butterflies are fewer due to the poor weather this year. Not sure if bees are in decline or just have more food choices due to people planning more flowers etc. For example, SHMBO had me create a wild flower border , lots of choice but the borrage is swarming with honey and bumble bees, yet 100 yards up the road, a shrub that is normally alive with bees has none? With honey bees it also possibly comes down to how many managed hives in your area?

 

[Basil H]

It has indeed been a poor year weatherwise, but all the evidence points to a steady decline in insect numbers all across Europe for many years now. Human lives are short, and our memories shorter, so we measure populations against a "shifting baseline" rather than the absolute numbers in the years before DDT, aldrin, dieldrin etc, first came into use post WW II.