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NEWSLETTER No. 42 -  Spring 1999

WEST MIDLANDS BRANCH, BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION

 

1998
West Midlands
Butterfly and Moth Annual Review

               West Midlands Top Ten (1997 position and totals in bracket)

Butterfly of the Year awards

Butterfly of the Year: Holly Blue (Runner-up: Green-veined White)

Most improved performance: Meadow Brown

Wooden spoon: High Brown Fritillary (Runner-up: Small Skipper)

Migrant of the Year: Withheld

1998 Weather summary

Overall 1998 was a fairly average year for rainfall, sunshine and temperatures but as is often the case, these figures mask some wild anomalies at times.

January began the year with mild wet weather with average sunshine. February continued that trend with the mildest month this century. On the 13th of the month record highs were recorded. Despite the mild weather which sometimes means wet weather, conditions were dry and sunshine hours were high. There were several days when hibernating butterflies could have been woken up. Warm weather continued in to March with the warmest month this century, but it was dull and wet.

1998 ended a run of warm April months with cold spells mid month and some ground frost. Very wet weather led to flooding in some areas, particularly in the east and south midlands following heavy rain at Easter. Malvern had 50 mm on the 9th alone. Naturally with all that rain there was little sunshine to be enjoyed. May was warm despite a cool start with average amounts of sunshine but did make up for April by being somewhat dry. In some areas it was probably the driest May this century. June had average temperatures with slightly warmer nights and although not as wet as 1997, it was still the third wettest this century. Generally it was very dull and this made the second dismal June in a row which would not favour species that are on the wing that month. Unfortunately July brought cool conditions and ended a run of four warm July’s. It was however dry and that may have made up for the previous months dampness. The first half of the month started dull but it brightened considerably later.

August had long dry spells, was quite sunny but very often cool and not many days above 25 degrees Celsius. September started warm and apart from the second week stayed warm. It was pretty wet though with heavy rain on the 4th, 26th and 29th. with all that rain the sun was not much in evidence. In summary for the summer months of April to September the temperatures were about average, sunshine was definitely on the low side and rainfall was also a bit low.

October had average temperatures and sunshine but it was very wet again and there was considerable flooding along the River Severn after heavy rain on the 27th. Toward the end of the year November was dry, sunny and mild with only a few light frosts. December ended the year on a mild note but there were long dull periods amongst the sunshine.

Looking back, 1998 was more like one of our normal British summers with thoughts of marvellous long hot sunny summers just a dim memory. Comparing the lower table with last years shows that there was one more butterfly flying day in 1998 than in 1997.


Table showing the number of Rainfall and Sunshine days as well as the number of Potential Adult Butterfly Flying Days - 1998 (WEST MIDLANDS)

Weather Summary for the Summer 1998 (Values expressed as a percentage of monthly average)

Mike Averill