Warham Camp Butterfly Count – Tuesday 16th August 2016

Once again 5 people took part in a systematic count of the Chalkhill Blues at Warham Camp, hoping to catch the peak numbers.  However this year only 220 males and 27 females were counted – this represented a ratio of around 8:1 males to females, very similar to counts in other years.  However this is a dramatic drop of 90% from last year and an enormous reduction from the very large count of over 7000 in 2013.  The reasons for this are unclear but, as this was an introduced population, it may just be that such numbers are unsustainable on this site.  We await next year with interest.

Report by Judy Dumore and photographs by Derek Longe

 

Chalkhill Blue Male Chalk Hill Blue Male Aberr

Chalk Hill Blue Female Warham Camp Chalk Hill Blue Female Abbr Warham Camp

Warham Camp Survey Group