Blackheath Village & Environs - Volume 4
Blackheath Butterfly Survey Report
Butterflies are far more than a welcome seasonal sight on the Heath. They are sensitive environmental indicators that provide vital data on the health of our local ecosystems.
Between 2020 and 2024 local naturalist Joe Beale conducted a series of standardised transect walks across north Blackheath to monitor these populations, walking the same route every time and recording the adult butterflies seen along it.
The survey, funded by the Blackheath Joint Working Party Community Fund with the support of the Society, recorded 873 individual butterflies representing 22 species, revealing how our landscape may be responding to suitable habitat management. or the lack of it, and broader climate trends.
Two butterfly species made up the majority of butterflies counted and these are the butterflies that readers are most likely to encounter at Hyde Vale and Vanbrugh Pits in summer: the Gatekeeper and the Meadow Brown, which accounted for 61% of all butterflies recorded.
By monitoring these winged indicators, we gain the evidence required to manage Blackheath as a resilient sanctuary in an increasingly unpredictable environment.
There are full details with illustrations in the final report which will be found here.