Whites-Pieridae facing extinction in Britain.

[nomad]

I saw this article last week. What do you think, pity they could not have had an image of the butterflies they mention, at least a Pieris, looks like a colias. See

www.express.co.uk/news/nature/597313/White-butterflies-facing-extinction

[wollastoni]

Well, I am not a specialist of English fauna, but I doubt Pieris species would go extinct in England in the 21st century.
They are still the most common butterfly species in N. Europe, the article say they are drought-sensitive but you can find plenty of those whites in S. Europe too.

This said, their recommendations to protect biotopes are good, it would help all insect species.

[timmsyrj]

Yes apparently as the U.K gets hotter(apparently) and drier (supposedly) we will lose all our butterflies, why then do the more southern, hotter and drier european countries like France, Spain, Italy and Greece have many many more species than us, more abundant than ours, whites are everywhere, maybe the organic veggies over here should take a look at themselves, they all want there greens caterpillar free then moan when there are no adult butterflies around, many organic methods discourage butterflies from egg laying on there crops, others kill the caterpillars as they eat all under the guise of "organic farming".
Our mild winters certainly don't help matters, parasitic wasps are rampant, I've seen loads of dead large whites caterpillars on my nasturtiums this year, also found parasitised comma larvae on my hop plant, same goes for small tortoiseshell and peacock larvae I've searched for, I wonder how many of these such parasites get released as an organic control, I know they are available my neighbour uses parasites for carrot fly and nematodes to control slugs on his lettuces. I know Clark on insectnet has had issues with gulf fritillary larvae dying in their later instars as a result of organic measures to control crop issues, these things a far worse than chemical sprays which become inert after a few months, parasites breed and continue into the wild populations and know no boundaries.

Just my thoughts, Rich

[wollastoni]

Indeed the real "organic farming" is the one of my grandmother : remove the pests with your 2 fingers.

I agree that bacteriological tools should not be used in organic farming then let's not be wrong, industrial farming kills million more butterflies than organic one, even badly done.

Anyway just protect the habitat and our butterflies will find the way to adapt. If climate warming is very sudden, some species will move north, some will leave UK, other will come. That's life. UK butterflies are not so threatened by global warming (in comparison with Moroccan one for example). UK butterflies are mainly threatened by habitat destruction and agriculture.

[timmsyrj]

Totally agree, insects will adapt and new species will take over, many are spreading North where habitat allows, as I've posted on another thread here, silver washed fritillaries are now just up the road from me here in the Midlands, hopefully the migrants will come every year and eventually as the winters get warmer colonies will establish, who knows what will make it to our shores.
It would be a shame for them to travel all that way to find the countryside neatly mown though and the hedgerows trimmed annually as seems to be the ever growing norm nowadays.

Rich

[nomad]

Well, I might not be around in 2050  to see if these scientists are right, I am afraid that I will  probably be extinct before then. Is this just a lot of hot air, excuse the pun, do some scientists have too much time on their hands, you do hear some weird things from the men in white coats. Perhaps, they should be taken seriously but I am afraid I will not be losing much sleep over this.  

It is interesting that these knowledgeable fellows mention that by 2050  the Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus and the Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria may join them. Well, I have recently read that these two species are some of the few butterflies that are doing rather well in the U.K.

If global warming does effect our butterflies you would have thought it would be the Alpine and Northern species such the Mountain Ringlet Erebia epiphron. Although, when I visited the latter in the Lake District, a couple of years ago, during the week I was there, it was mostly raining and rather cold up on those hills at the end of June. If anything the butterfly could have done with a few more hours of sunshine.

One butterfly that seems to have seriously declined in Britain, at least in my area, is the Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas. This species used to be common especially on waste land but I now hardly see it. I think I have only seen one in North Wiltshire this year. What a loss to our butterfly fauna that would be if this beauty disappeared. 

Nice to see that Argynnis paphia is spreading into the Midlands and further. 

[Adam Cotton]

When I was young small coppers were common in the area I lived (Knowle, south of Solihull). It is sad to hear that they are getting rare now.

Adam.

[Deleted]

I don't really take these reports seriously either, to say the mentioned species may be extinct in 2050 is silly really. I see no evidence of global warming whatsoever where I live in fact the total opposite this year, certain species have fluctuations in population size and range and always have done, a striking example being the wall butterfly Lasiommata megera, very rarely seen inland now, mostly seen on the coast, they were everywhere until around 1990, other species have become much more widespread and abundant in recent years, to me it's all part of a natural cycle.