[Pollinator] West Virginia question

[forestruss at aol.com]

Dear friends of pollinators:
Has there been a drastic decline in the number of butterflies, bees and moths this summer?

I live in the middle of a heavily forested area of central West Virginia that has enjoyed a diverse abundance of every type of Appalachian pollinator until this summer.  We have a meadow a half mile from our house with hundreds of flowering milkweed plants and have only seen two butterflies in the area in the past week....and virtually no bees on the milkweed!
The number of bees of every type has dropped through the floor this summer and we are only see flies and very small bees pollinating our squash and cucumber plants.  Black and yellow swallowtail butterflies are typically so common that it is normally difficult to look at a forested hillside without seeing a couple of them flitting around the tree canopies.  There have been absolutely no swallowtails evident for weeks.
Swallowtail butterflies seem to be attracted to dog pee and I am accustomed to seeing clouds of swallowtail  butterflies scatter from my dogs' tie-out when I leave my house on a sunny summer morning.   I frequently encounter puddling Appalachian azure butterflies, skippers and swallowtails.  However, I have not seen a patch of puddling butterflies of any kind this summer.
We have a large patch of butterfly weed in our vegetable garden that has been blossoming for two weeks but have yet to see anything other than tiny flies anywhere near the plant.
I am interested to see whether these observations are just isolated to the boonies of central WV or a larger problem this summer? 



Russ Richardson, Certified ForesterArnoldsburg, WV
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