Where are all the butterflies?

From reports from all over the country, this year is a very poor one for Butterflies and Moths. I'm still catching a few moth and seeing the regular species, but not in very good numbers.

This little moth, with a wing span of just 16mm has the strange name of Short-cloaked Moth. This was the first one I've caught this year although it is a common moth and I should see a few more. The caterpillars feed on various trees including Blackthorn, Hawthorn and Apple.

Butterflies seem to be very poor although over the last few days there seems to have been a large number of Meadow Browns flying. In a short walk round the Lees today they were almost the only butterfly noticeable. A couple of Marbled Whites and one Large Skipper were all I saw, and there was a Red Admiral in the garden earlier. I dread to think that we are heading to a world that has lost these beautiful insects, except in a few carefully managed reserves.

The two pictures below were taken by Nina, my daughter-in-law at Jack's Sports Day in Clitheroe, and as a proud Granddad I couldn't resist them.

I like the concentration that Jack is showing in the egg and spoon race, I can just about remember taking part in my early days, but I'm sure we used real eggs.

I think Nina has captured Josh's joy at running in the "pre-school" race perfectly.