Merritts Meadow Butterfly Sightings Through the Years

Our butterfly expert Alf Smallbone has written a short history of his sightings in Merritts Meadow since 1992:

1992 – 1999

The meadow was quite open with very little scrub apart from small amounts of bramble, nettles and hogweed. The hillside/slope was clear and with any winter snow would be used for sledging. By 1999 oak saplings and denser scrub were impacting on the numbers of butterflies and with no management it was only a matter of time before the whole site would be overrun.

2016 – 2018

With the possibility of some management from the new Trustees I restarted recording but found the meadow almost fully overgrown with bramble, nettles and comfrey. It was probably the dog walkers who were keeping the narrow paths open. There was still a small amount of grass in the SE corner. The hillside was now a small wood.

2022 – 2025

With the transfer of the meadow to the current Trustees and management from the start of their tenure I restarted recording once more.

The Butterflies

During the 1992 – 99 period the meadow was mainly grass so favoured species such as Meadow Brown, Large and Small/Essex Skipper. For example, in 1994 over an eight week flight period I recorded 191 Meadow Browns, 119 Large Skipper and 183 Small/Essex Skipper. At this time the Small Tortoiseshell was abundant and I always considered the meadow to be the No. 1 site in Petersfield for the species. Numbers over the season, April to September, include 1995/183, 1996/101and 1997/103. The Gatekeeper which appears slightly later than the Meadow Brown regularly gave double figure counts over 4 weeks with a maximum weekly count of 48 in 1997. The annual species count for this period varied between 17 – 23.  

When I restarted counts in 2016 I wasn’t very hopeful knowing the overgrown state of the meadow but I was pleased to find that the species count had held up and ranged between 13 – 18 over the 2016 – 18 period. However, the numbers of butterflies for all species was low. In 2017 over a shorter flight period I recorded just 31 Meadow Brown, 1 Large Skipper and 20 Small/Essex Skipper. Numbers of Small Tortoiseshell had plummeted with 4 seen over the whole season. The Gatekeeper fared no better with only 3 noted. The only butterfly that excelled in 2017 was the Ringlet an insect which prefers damper conditions. It amassed a total of 67 over 4 weeks. This was exceptional for the Meadow as most years totals would rarely exceed 10.

Restarting counts again in 2022 and with some clearance undertaken on the site numbers of butterfly still remained on the low side but proved to be best of the 2022 – 25 period. Meadow Brown totalled 29 which was on par with 2017, with2 Large Skipper and 7 Small/Essex Skipper seen. The Small Tortoiseshell were on the up with 13 seen over the season but it may have been its last hurrah as none were in recorded in the Meadow in 2025. The Gatekeeper has done better over this period with 12 in 2022 but with increases in the following years. On the plus side the species count is now ranging between 18 – 20.

Alf Smallbone