Recap of 2022

As we're approaching the xmas break, time to wrap up 2022! Obviously, this year was never going to be as good a year for new species as last year, when we saw 24 new species (9 new butterfly species and 15 new damsel/dragonfly species). 

But we did see some new species! 

Butterflies first. We saw a total of 37 species (exactly the same number as last year), which included four new species: dingy skipper, essex skipper, lulworth skipper and duke of burgundy. The 'poster' below shows which species we saw this year (species names in red means we saw them in a previous year, but not this year).

And then on to damseldragonflies. A total of 26 species (one more than last year), which included three new species: willow emerald damselfly, white-legged damselfly and ruddy darter. Here's the 'what we saw this year' poster (again, red names mean we have seen the species before, but didn't see them this year).

So still seven new butterdamseldragonfly species in total, and one more species overall compared to last year! Nevertheless, numbers per species were clearly lower than last year, and the season just felt shorter. No doubt the heat and drought over the summer played a big role in that ...

In terms of our garden list, we saw fewer species (and clearly lower numbers) compared to last year: only 11, as shown in the table below.

Among those was this gorgeous peacock, sunning itself.

Not much point to publish a table of damseldragonflies seen in the garden this year, as that was just a single large red damselfly.

I mentioned before that I regard hawk-moths as honorary butterflies. We saw hummingbird hawk-moths in several places (but so far haven't managed to get a picture of one) as well as a caterpillar of a lime hawk-moth on the leaves of a lime tree in Dorchester.

What will 2023 bring? One way to find out!