First SA Butterfly Census Weekend: Results

South Africa's very first Butterfly Census Weekend (BCW) took place on the weekend of 24-25 April 2010, as part of the SABCA project. 80 teams registered for the event, and 40 of these managed to return data to us. Many teams experienced cold, wet weather resulting in very low numbers of butterflies seen. Nevertheless, from the feedback we received it seems that the census was thoroughly enjoyed!

We have put together some general results for the census. We received data from seven provinces, with most data being submitted from KZN (20 teams), and no census data was received for the Northern Cape and the Free State.
 
(*Please note: the use of "species" below refers to species and subspecies).
 

Overall, the top three teams in the Expert and Beginner categories are as follows:
 
Expert
1) 4 Painted Ladies (KZN) - 70 species
2) Port Edward Prowlers (KZN) - 67 species
3) The Lazy Lepidopterists (Mpumalanga) - 50 species
 
Beginner
1) Mhlopeni Team (KZN) - 45 species
2) Glenwood Blues (KZN) - 43 species
3) Amanzimtoti (KZN) - 34 species
 
Well done to these teams for having such a successful census!
 
In total, 195 species were observed during the census, with the highest number seen in KZN (160 species) and Mpumalanga (60 species).
 

 

 
To access more detailed results for the census as a whole (top teams per category, most common butterflies seen, number of species seen, numbers seen in each butterfly Family and participating teams), please click on the following link (pdf format):
 
Entire census results (1.5MB)

To access the detailed results per province (top teams per province, most common butterflies seen, number of species seen, numbers seen in each butterfly Family and participating teams), please click on the relevant province in the list below. The results are in pdf format.
 
Eastern Cape (600kb)
 
Gauteng (450kb)
 
KwaZulu-Natal (700kb)
 
Limpopo (600kb)
 
Mpumalanga (550kb)
 
North West (500kb)
 
Western Cape (650kb)

Here follows a short article on the experiences of one of the teams:
 
Bad weather nullifies 'The Tag Team'
 
By Christopher Willis
 
My family and I departed from Pretoria at the crack of dawn on Saturday, 24 April 2010, ready to tackle SABCA's first Butterfly Census Weekend (BCW). I was rather apprehensive about the weekend, though, as the weather forecast for the Lydenburg area, the town closest to our planned survey site, the Verlorenkloof Estate, was not good – predicting drizzle/rain and cool temperatures for most of the weekend. Verlorenkloof Estate comprises a 1,400 ha property with a network of 42 km of hiking trails on the upper Crocodile River catchment, southwest of the Kwena Dam in Mpumalanga's northeastern Drakensberg Mountains (QDS 2530AD).
 
In addition to surveying the area for SABCA's BCW, the other aim of the trip was to continue developing the existing butterfly checklist for Verlorenkloof, adding to the list J-P Niehaus had assembled when he was last there in mid-December 2009. J-P had kindly shared his list with me, so I at least had an initial list to work on. Certain species that J-P had recorded I would not expect to see due to the fact that the species usually flies during other times of the year – such as the Amakosa Rocksitter (Durbania amakosa) that is on the wing from November to January, and Neita Brown (Neita neita) that flies between December and March.
 
We drove the 250 km from Pretoria to Verlorenkloof in rain all the way. On arrival at Verlorenkloof, my son Kyle and I spent our first two-hour session from 11h30 to 13h30 exploring a nearby Afromontane forest patch and some very wet adjacent montane grassland and woodland. It drizzled the entire 2-hour session. Virtually no butterflies were seen flying – the three species we did see were the Rainforest Brown (Cassionympha cassius) in the forested gorge as well as some wet Angled Grass Yellow (Eurema desjardinsii marshalli) and African Grass Blue (Zizeeria knysna) on road verges close to the Welgedacht Road. The latter two were both new records for the Verlorenkloof Estate. In the afternoon the bad weather set in for the remainder of the day with continual drizzle/light rain throughout the afternoon. We decided it was not worth surveying that afternoon because of the poor weather and hoped for a better Sunday, when we would have to spend at least four hours surveying to make up the minimum number of six hours in the field.
 
Sunday morning broke with another cool, overcast morning but no rain. Would this hold for the remainder of the day? As Sunday was my 18th wedding anniversary, I was feeling optimistic that the weather would clear. In fact the saying of the weekend was 'I'm sure the weather's going to clear soon'–it never did. The third member of our survey team that we called 'The Tag Team', Max Clark, had joined us with his family the previous evening, so our team was now at full strength and looked forward to our four hours surveying on Sunday, if the weather would cooperate....
 
Unfortunately my 'unrealistic optimism' never materialised and the weather continued to be overcast with drizzle/rain for the rest of the day, with maximum temperatures not reaching more than 13oC all day. This maximum daily temperature recorded during the BCW is even lower than the average minimum temperature of 14oC recorded for the month of April in the Lydenburg area. The only species seen in addition to those recorded on Saturday was a Pied Piper (Eurytela hoarbas angustata), making a total of four species and subspecies recorded in six hours of observation! A very disappointing haul, in anyone's books. What made it more disappointing, though, was that Verlorenkloof as a site has so much potential because of the diversity of habitats found in a relatively small area – from wetlands and woodlands to montane grassland and Afromontane forest. The Verlorenkloof Estate is situated in a transition zone between Lydenburg Montane Grassland and the Legogote Mountain Bushveld. The area includes elements of both vegetation types found in the reserve.
 
Although not forming part of the BCW's data records, the next day was overcast, with no drizzle and warmer temperatures. I observed several species not recorded the previous two days, including the Eyed Bush Brown (Henotesia perspicua perspicua), Two-Pip Policeman (Coeliades pisistratus), Gaudy Commodore (dry season form; Precis octavia sesamus), Garden Commodore (Precis archesia archesia) and a couple of Bush Bronzes (Cacyreus lingeus). The Eyed Bush Brown, Bush Bronze and Two-Pip Policeman were all new records for Verlorenkloof. So despite the bad weather experienced over the weekend we did record five species new to the Verlorenkloof Estate butterfly checklist, increasing the number of butterfly species and subspecies recorded from 27 to 32. I look forward to surveying the area again under improved weather conditions. My special thanks to Eric and Heidi Johnson of Verlorenkloof, my team members (Max and Kyle) and our families for their support in enabling us to survey Verlorenkloof Estate over the first BCW.
 


Kyle Willis (left) and Max Clark of 'The Tag Team' surveying in a section of the damp Robin's Kloof forest at Verlorenkloof Estate, Mpumalanga
Cloud descending down Robin's Kloof on the eastern Drakensberg Escarpment at Verlorenkloof Estate, Mpumalanga
Kyle Willis of 'The Tag Team' surveying in a wet patch of woodland in Verlorenkloof Estate, Mpumalanga


 

 
Thank you to all participating teams for taking part in this first South African census. All feedback and data received will be evaluated, to plan for and make improvements on the next census. Due to the success of this first census and the enthusiasm it has generated, the aim is to have a Spring census later this year, so keep a look out for the announcement.