{"id":499,"date":"2023-08-02T09:04:51","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T08:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/?p=499"},"modified":"2023-08-02T09:04:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T08:04:52","slug":"butterfly-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/08\/02\/butterfly-counting\/","title":{"rendered":"Butterfly counting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From April to September, we count butterflies in Stoke Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Common Blue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Marbled White<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Red Admiral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We do this by walking a transect – a set route through Stoke Park – every week. We follow a methodology called a Pollard walk<\/a>. This helps us gather the best quality data on butterfly numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The information we record is submitted to a national butterfly monitoring scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started doing the count late last year when I could barely tell one butterfly from another. Now I can recognise at least 15 species without having to think too hard about it. Although I do struggle with the whites. They don\u2019t sit still, and it\u2019s very hard to see the characteristic markings as they flit past you at speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not just me when it comes to identifying whites. This is what the Butterfly Conservation guide to identifying white butterflies<\/a> says: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“…although most Large White individuals are bigger than Small Whites, they can occasionally be smaller. Black\/grey spots on the wings are also not very helpful, as these vary between males and females as well as between species.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So a Large White can be smaller than a Small White, and any of them can have any spots or no spots. Helpful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are in Stoke Park in the middle of the day and you see someone stalking through the grass seemingly talking to themselves, that may well be me following a white butterfly and asking it, \u201cAre you a large or a small white?\u201d. As yet none of them have answered, but I live in hope!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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Small White<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Small Tortoiseshells<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Peacock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for reliably identifying a Common Blue… Well. The Holly Blue and the Common Blue are similar in size. The female Common Blue is quite brown. The Brown Argus is predominantly brown but has a blue tinge to its body. And the Marbled White can look blue in flight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a good thing I like a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find the count to be really good fun. It\u2019s like a treasure hunt. And over the years we will be able to see the effects of our work in Stoke Park on the butterfly population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have found since doing the count that I notice more wildlife in Stoke Park than I ever have before. A notable sighting on one of the walks, that I unfortunately don\u2019t have photographic evidence of, is one of our resident weasels. Other sightings include moths, damselflies, and a shrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jersey Tiger Moth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Common Blue Damselfly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shrew!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s one of the few tasks we do that can only be done in good weather. We’d love more people to help with the count. If you fancy a stroll around Stoke Park on a nice sunny day, please sign up to volunteer<\/a>. You will be doing a really important piece of work that contributes both to Stoke Park and to national butterfly research projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of the above photos were taken in Stoke Park by members of the Stoke Park Community Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Butterfly Conservation website has a really good butterfly identification guide.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also use the Field Studies Council\u2019s Butterflies Guide<\/a> to help identify butterflies on our walks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From April to September, we count butterflies in Stoke Park. We do this by walking a transect – a set route through Stoke Park – every week. We follow a methodology called a Pollard walk. This helps us gather the best quality data on butterfly numbers. The information we record is submitted to a national […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":538,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions\/538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}