Target areas for butterfly recording in 2023

In the late spring edition of Hairstreak there was an article about gaps in recording coverage since 2020, in the current 5-year recording window (2020-2024). We asked for your help to fill as many gaps as possible in 2023. A small team of dedicated gap-fillers have targeted many of the squares on the map that had no visits recorded. The resulting updated 'gaps' map includes the result of those records sent in or posted on iRecord, as at the end of August.
The result of this effort is that all unvisited squares fully inside the UTB boundaries have now been visited, mostly with more than 10 species recorded. A huge 'thank you' to everyone who has helped with this. The remaining unvisited squares now are at the edges straddling the border with neighbouring counties, mainly in NW Oxfordshire and SW Berkshire. We will be encouraging recorders to visit these areas next spring and summer with the aim to fill all the remaining gaps before the end of 2024. There is still a wide scatter of squares with fewer than 10 species recorded (and a few with <3 species recorded) and we should try to fill these too.
 
In the meantime it is likely that many recorders have not yet sent in their records for 2023, either directly or via iRecord. Please do your best, if you have not already done so, to send in your records for 2023 (and, of course, any records you may not have submitted for previous years) by the end of October. This will give us the best chance to verify these new records and update our maps.
 
Once we are up to date with the records, we will produce a new updated map early next year to show where remaining poorly recorded squares remain to provide targets for 2024. Squares should be visited and recorded at least three times during the year (late spring (May), early summer (mid-June to mid-July) and late summer (late July-August)), to have a chance of seeing the full range of species. Suitable habitat should produce 15-17 butterfly species over the year in every part of the three counties.
If you have any questions about recording and how you may be able to help, please contact Jim Asher, Peter Ogden, or Jan Haseler, the UTB 10km square recording coordinator. Your help is greatly appreciated - you are making a difference!