Lack of butterflies

mark jackson strat7 at ix.netcom.com
Sun Jul 5 15:49:07 EDT 1998


Hi ,         Well let see what will follow, (  honey bees, june bugs and now
butterfly's )
are now disappearing, but the grass is green. I have always wondered what
classified
some plants as a (weed?) anyway. Sounds like a way to market death to me!
                                                        Go Natural,  mark j.
Anne Kilmer wrote:

> pjrelf at kas.kc3ltd.co.uk wrote:
> >
> > In article <22929-359C4C9D-2568 at mailtod-152.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
> >   bugguy at webtv.net wrote:
> > >
> > > I think everyone is experiencing in one form or another a lack of
> > > butterflies this year. We here in Rhode Island had a great season last
> > > year with many species being recorded for the first time in awhile. For
> > > us we had an early spring with lots of butterflies hatching. Then we had
> > > almost 20 days of rain, wind and cold weather. Then we had normal temps
> > > but no butterflies were to be found. We just got over another 19 day
> > > period of rain. What I think happened is that alot of adults hatched
> > > early only to be killed by the first period of rain (either by cold or
> > > not being able to feed since they don't fly in the rain). This then
> > > caused a chain reaction i that no one was breeding thus no larvae.
> > > We now have had 2 days without rain and some adults have been sighted
> > > but nowhere near as many as last year (or even what was seen with our
> > > early spring).
> > >
> > > David Albaugh
> > >
> >
> > Here in the UK there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of
> > butterflies in recent years.  This has been put down to (a) removal of
> > hedgerows and other natural habitats by farmers and land developers,  and (b)
> > intensive use of insecticides by farmers.
> >
> > Are those problems a cause of the decrease in butterfly population in the US
> > as well ??
> >
> > Regards.
> >
> > Peter Relf,
> > Herefordshire, UK. >
> But of course. We never had decent hedgerows, and I wish we did; even
> where fields are crossed with drainage ditches they are kept weed free,
> which means that they are colonized, not by choice natives, but by a low
> class of adventitious weeds, mostly foreign.
>         In England, hedgerows can be dated by the number of species of
> shrub and tree that have added themselves to the original hawthorn or
> whatever. There's a nifty little formula. Here in the states, things
> change so quickly that even the hedgerows aren't permanent.
>         While farmers do indeed use pesticides, and the states also use
> them to control invasive insects (gypsy moths for instance, and
> Mediterranean fruit flies) I would say that our main problem is urban
> and suburban sprawl, and the chemicals used by householders in order to
> maintain green lawns in the face of overwehlming adversity.
>         This is, of course, the fault of the British who indoctrinated
> us into the notion that "nice people" have grassy lawns. Actually,
> unless you have sheep or small children, a lawn is a foolish waste of
> space.
>         The existance of the monocultures here: people, cats and dogs
> instead of an assortment of mammals of various sizes; grassy lawns and
> exotic shrubs and trees instead of natives ... has put tremendous
> pressure on ecosystems. We still suffer from the delusion that Nature is
> out to get us, and that cleanliness is next to godliness. A nation of
> telephone sanitizers. We're working on this though.
>         We are hampered by the fact that Nature actually is out to get
> us, and occasionally reminds us of this with a spot of bubonic plague,
> or Hanta virus or whatever.
>         My neighborhood is promoting greenbelts, which are an
> elaboration on the hedgerows principle. The developers are winning,
> because they have the money and the time.
> Oh well.
> Anne Kilmer
> South Florida




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