Tipping point

The number of butterflies on my transect this morning was less than half the number last week, despite similar conditions, and only a quarter of the number two weeks ago. It seems that we've passed the tipping point for this season and its likely that they will disappear quite rapidly. But I can't complain, this year has been a bumper one at this site, exceeding the previous record by almost thirty per cent already. The prolonged drought is likely to mean that next year will, by contrast, be rather poor. Today's highlight was a number of very fresh male Brimstones feeding on the common fleabane. The Brimstone is our longest lived butterfly - typically lasting around eleven months - these newly emerged individuals will hopefully overwinter and re-emerge next April.