CHANGES IN BUTTERFLY DISTRIBUTIONS IN LANCASHIRE
AND CHESHIRE
Thanks to the co-operation of the Cheshire and
Lancashire butterfly recorders, Barry Shaw and Laura Sivell, I have been able
to produce maps showing all the available records for each species of butterfly
in Watsonian vice-counties VC58, 58 and 60 for the periods 1940 to 1994 (very
few records from the earlier years; the vast majority are from the late 1980s
onwards), 1995 to 2000 and 2001 to 2007.
For the maps showing the distributions of each butterfly species, see the following links. Upon clicking any of the links, inintially a sidebar usually appears on the right of the screen, with the heading "YAHOO! GEOCITIES". It is recommended that the viewer close this sidebar by clicking on the right-pointing double arrow-head immediately to the left of it: the maps should then appear three abreast. The first three show all the records for the particular species in each of the three periods; the next three rows show each of the periods alongside maps plotting altitude and urban cover - both it is hoped in self-explanatory symbols; the altitude map is graded in bands on 0-100m (light blue-green), 100-200m, 200-300m, 300-400m, 400-500m and over 500 (deep orange-brown); the urban cover uses five symbols graded from green to dark red-brown depending on whether a 1km square has urban cover over none or virtually none of its area, a quarter, a half, three-quarters or the whole of its area. Finally for each species there are three pairs of maps, one for each period, which come up two abreast and show the records for that species against the coverage, i.e. all known visits during the period.
P.B.H. 25.11.2008
[ Small Skipper Thymelicus sylvestris ]
[ Large Skipper Ochlodes faunus ]
[ Dingy Skipper Erynnis tages ]
[ Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus malvae ]
[ Clouded Yellow Colias croceus ]
[ Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni ]
[ Large White Pieris brassicae ]
[ Small White Pieris rapae ]
[ Green-veined White Pieris napi ]
[ Orange Tip Anthocharis cardamines ]
[ Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi ]
[ Purple Hairstreak Neozephyrus quercus ]
[ White-letter Hairstreak Satyrium w-album ]
[ Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas ]
[ Long-tailed Blue Lampides boeticus ]
[ Silver-studded Blue Plebeius argus ]
[ Northern Brown Argus Aricia artaxerxes ]
[ Common Blue Polyommatus icarus ]
[ Holly Blue Celastrina argiolus ]
[ Duke of Burgundy Fritillary Hamearis lucina ]
[ White Admiral Limenitis camilla ]
[ Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta ]
[ Painted Lady Vanessa cardui ]
[ Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae ]
[ Camberwell Beauty Nymphalis antiopa ]
[ Peacock Inachis io ]
[ Comma Polygonia c-album ]
[ Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary Boloria selene ]
[ Pearl-bordered Fritillary Boloria euphrosyne ]
[ High Brown Fritillary Argynnis adippe ]
[ Dark Green Fritillary Argynnis aglaja ]
[ Silver-washed Fritillary Argynnis paphia ]
[ Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria ]
[ Wall Lasiommata megera ]
[ Scotch Argus Erebia aethiops ]
[ Marbled White Melanargia galathea ]
[ Grayling Hipparchia semele ]
[ Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus ]
[ Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina ]
[ Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus ]
[ Large Heath Coenonympha tullia ]
[ Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus ]
COVERAGE AND OBSERVED SPECIES RICHNESS
The following maps are on a nine-point colour scale, the steps, going from light b;ue-green to deep orange-brown, being:
(a) in the case of the coverage maps, 1 visit, 2 to 9 visits, 10 to 24 visits, 25 to 49 visits, 50 to 99 visits, 100 to 199 visits, 200 to 299 visits, 300 to 399 visits, and 400 or more visits, during the period;
(b) in the case of the species-richness maps, 1 species, 2-4 species, 5-7 species, 8-10 species, 11-13 species, 14-16 species, 17-19 species, 20-22 species, and 22 or more species;
(c) in the case of individual butterflies, 1 individual, 2-9 individuals, 10-49 individuals, 50-99 individual, 100-499 individuals, 500-999 individuals, 1,000-4,999 individuals, 5,000-9,999 indivduals, and 10,000 or more individuals.
PERIOD 1 (1940-1994), RECORDING COVERAGE AND OBSERVED SPECIES RICHNESS
PERIOD 2 (1995-2000), RECORDING COVERAGE AND OBSERVED SPECIES RICHNESS
PERIOD 3 (2001-2007), RECORDING COVERAGE AND OBSERVED SPECIES RICHNESS
