How are our butterflies faring? The answer seems to be not very well. As the season is two or three weeks behind normal, perhaps we need not be too pessimistic.

This time of year is good for Meadow Browns and Ringlets. My numbers seem to be quite plentiful. However this is only a pure guess, and there is no substitute for a scientific count. My friends who do a regular walk on a fixed transect have seen steady declines over the last few years. As an example on a County Wexford site, they got 54 Meadow Browns and 25 Ringlets in one day in 2015. This year’s figures are down to 13 Meadow Browns and 8 Ringlets. Is it the weather, loss of habitat, or a mixture of both?

The best source of scientific information on butterflies and other “bugs and beasts” is the National Biodiversity Data Centre in Waterford. One of their charts which I downloaded gave the following information on population changes from 2008 to 2015. For a start there were strong increases in the numbers of Brimstones and Peacocks. This was followed by a moderate increase in Small Coppers and Small Tortoiseshells. There were moderate declines in Green-veined Whites and Large Whites. Meadow Browns and Ringlets were in the same category. Steep declines were noted for Orange Tips, Speckled Woods and Wood Whites. Other species were listed as uncertain or unknown and included one of my favourites the Silver-washed Fritillary. Look out for these as they should be emerging now. They need mature oaks and dog-violets to complete their life cycle.

We have about 34 species in Ireland, including migrants, and one of the most recent breeding species is the Comma. It used to be just a migrant. Another migrant which can be numerous in some years is the Painted Lady. I have seen one so far this year.

Good charts and books are a great help in getting this fairly small number of species into our heads. Compare this with moths, whose species are numbered in the thousands – quite a challenge! Do look at the website for the National Biodiversity Data Centre . They do some great charts for insects and a good one on butterflies. A new one covers trees.