Butterfly Conservation Ireland

Site Management at Fahee North, County Clare

COVID-19 has severely curtailed events this year but we did have two events on September 5th and September 6th in the Burren, County Clare.

On Saturday, September 5th Butterfly Conservation Ireland and Burrenbeo Trust teamed up to cut scrub on the wonderful habitat just north of the Burren Perfumery near the site of St Fachtnan’s Holy Well.

Owing to various weather and COVID-related cancellations, we have not been able to get on the site to manage it. In short, there was and still is much to do!

Ten of us got stuck into the scrub that has encroached onto the highly species-rich grassland. The site contains a very large range of flora, including rare plants such as Hairy Violet.  Mountain Avens, Spring Gentian, Goldenrod, Bloody Cranesbill, Devil’s-bit Scabious, Meadow Thistle, Lesser Meadow-rue, eye-bright, Common Cow-wheat, Common Dog-violet and several species of grass occur on the site.

The main threats are presented by the spreading of Common Hazel and Common Blackthorn, which must be kept under control if the rich flora and associated butterflies are to be conserved.

Smaller, more isolated hazel plants were uprooted while established scrub was cut. This will have an important impact as it reduces shade and uncovers flora that was hidden and unavailable for breeding by butterflies.

We were able to see some Marsh Fritillary caterpillars on a well-developed Devil’s-bit Scabious plant and noted how the plant was sheltered by the shape of the adjoining ground and unshaded, making it an ideal site for the larval nest. These are among the conditions our work is designed to maintain.

After a solid morning’s work, we rested for lunch and chat, while we looked at our work and the lovely landscape all around us. We returned and the group I was with finished clearing ‘our’ patch of scrub.

We finished at 4 pm, tired but happy, knowing we were back outdoors, together, at last! The site will now be grazed to improve the sward so by the time we are back in February we will see a great improvement.

A big thanks to Anne Mullen and Kate Lavender for all the organisation of the event and all the conservation volunteers who helped.

Walk in the Burren National Park,  Knockaunroe, County Clare

On Sunday 6th September we had a fine, sunny afternoon for our walk in the Burren National Park. We had 16 people for our event, reduced to incorporate social distancing.

The partly reclaimed area has developed into a beautiful mix of scrub and flower-rich limestone grassland containing habitats of the highest quality for a large suite of butterflies and moths.

A wet summer did not help us to see many butterflies but we obtained good views of the important areas and we did see some species, especially Speckled Wood butterflies. The males could be observed flying to and fro patrolling their scrub edge territories while females kept a low profile by flying low to the ground, fluttering around grass blades close to scrub in their search for suitable places to lay their eggs.

Some late Meadow Browns and some Small Tortoiseshells were seen along with a white butterfly, either a Small White or Green-veined White.

Dragonflies, mainly Brown Hawker and Common Darter were seen flying over the grassland and along the scrub, picking off small insects in flight. In truth, numbers of insects appear well done on previous Septembers, but the pleasant, gentle autumn sunshine and excellent conversation made for a memorable day.

A special thanks to Pranjali for organising the event.

For some butterflies a year gets it just right. A lovely, prolonged almost rainless spring with warm sunshine on most days in April and May followed a wet February. These conditions helped the Small Tortoiseshell butterfly to launch its year.

When it wakes from its hibernation in spring, the Small Tortoiseshell needs warm weather to fly. The butterfly needs to feed, find mates and the females look for nectar to develop their eggs and then seek suitable breeding sites. The larval foodplant, the Stinging Nettle, is not well developed in March and early April so the females must continue to feed and develop their eggs. When she is ready to start laying her eggs, it is vital that suitable nettles exist.  By mid-April this year, the nettles reached a suitable size. There were excellent weather conditions for egg-laying. The sunshine helped females that had laid their first egg batch to take nectar to develop further egg batches and disperse to reach new breeding sites. The eggs, larvae and early pupae developed quickly in the warm sunshine during May, with the first new-generation adults observed by June 1st.

After some very hot weather during the first week in June, the rest of the month saw above-average rainfall and temperatures near the average for June. This helped because a continuation of the drought conditions that developed over the spring months would have reduced the suitability of the nettles. These were now refreshed, and grew strongly, making for excellent breeding conditions for the vast number of Small Tortoiseshells that emerged during June and July.  Most of these butterflies stayed close to nettles and bred. The off-spring of these mid-summer breeders are appearing now, in very large numbers in some eastern areas.

Unlike their parents in mid-summer and grandparents in spring, this generation, the second born in 2020, will, in the vast majority of cases, not breed this year. It is their need to feed heavily in preparation for a long overwintering period that brings them to our gardens and to our attention.  Seeking nectar, the butterfly turns up in warm, flower-rich,  sheltered areas near suitable overwintering sites where they settle to feed. Their focus on feeding without expending energy makes them very easy to approach with some so docile that they can be touched without taking flight.

These make for lovely viewing and there have been spectacular numbers, with hundreds seen at Pollardstown Fen, County Kildare on August 30th. On that date, I saw around 400 on the bog at Lullymore and Lullybeg in County Kildare and 22-27 in my garden in County Meath each day for most days over the past two weeks (to September 1st). One indication of high numbers for anyone who does not seek the butterfly in its prime feeding stations is that it can be seen in low numbers flying across roads, fields, parks and other areas in its search for food.

The weather conditions we are seeing now with mild air and good sunshine is of great benefit to this overwintering generation because they have the conditions needed to move to good sites, feed and seek places to see out the colder months.

We urge you to enjoy seeing the butterfly because its current high abundance is quite short-lived. A butterfly that needs to survive for several months in the adult stage cannot expose itself for too long. The habit of feeding in large groups makes it an easy target for insectivorous birds, especially members of the tit family, wrens and robins. The Small Tortoiseshell is slowing down at this stage (its increasing weight and falling temperatures make it heavier and slower), making it easier to approach and catch. In short, it spends only a few weeks feeding before hibernating until next spring.

During September numbers fall, although newly emerged individuals that arise from eggs laid later in summer, probably by late-emerging or older females will appear into October. Some of these October butterflies may represent a small third generation, meaning that their parents that emerged during August bred rather than attempting to overwinter.

Up to three generations of the Small Tortoiseshell may overwinter in some years. Indeed, some of the first generation of Small Tortoiseshells that arose from eggs laid last spring do not breed in June and July but enter hibernation. These are probably few in number in most parts of Ireland, but this overwintering strategy of some first-generation adults is implied from observations made of adult behaviour in Counties Dublin, Meath and Donegal. Therefore, there may be three generations of the butterfly in hibernation over the winter.

Regardless of which generation the butterfly is from, it enters our attics, sheds, outbuildings, homes, woods, dense scrub, caves and other sites that will shelter it until spring.

When they awake in good weather, usually later in March we are looking at butterflies that range in age from five to eight months. We are also looking at siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins on the wing at the same time. This does not necessarily mean that all of these individuals are breeding with each other because the Small Tortoiseshell is a mobile butterfly that will travel to seek mates and breeding sites. However, in Britain, it has been found that the butterfly does not travel large distances across the country because Small Tortoiseshells from different regions show a different response to day-length. Thus, larvae that were taken from Scottish populations always produced adults that delayed breeding until spring, irrespective of the amount of daylight they received.  In the south of England, the butterfly has shown the ability to produce three generations.

There is much more to learn even about common butterflies like the Small Tortoiseshell.  A study in the UK found that much of the variations in the Small Tortoiseshell’s phenology (the study looked at emergence peaks) are unrelated to temperature or northing (latitude) (Hodgson et al. 2011).  Whether a similar study carried out here would show a similar result is unknown. However, the UK study did not take account of various effects of winter minima, summer maxima, rainfall, and cloudiness. That is unfortunate;  for example, the issue of cloudiness is relevant because the species is expected to respond to features such as photo-period (amount of light received, day-length).

It appears that the butterfly is faring better in Ireland than in Britain. Here the population is regarded as stable (‘2019, the year of the Painted Lady’, The Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme Newsletter, Issue 13). ) while in the UK it has shown a significant major decrease in abundance of -73% from 1976-2014 (Fox et al. (2015). The State of the UK’s Butterflies 2015. Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wareham, Dorset.). It should, however, be noted that the Irish abundance study covered a shorter time (2008-2019) than the UK study. We can add 2020 as another year when the Small Tortoiseshell abounded in Ireland. Long may it continue to flourish.

Growing up in Dublin in the 1970s, a real foreign holiday, and I don’t mean the Isle of Man or the UK mainland, was beyond the pockets of most Irish people. The era of monopolies meant that Aer Lingus could charge astronomical fares, even for a trip to London and this it did.

Irish people with sun-tans were identifiable as a privileged class such was the extraordinary costs of foreign travel. Now even teenagers head off to Spain-the communion money would cover the cost!

For the average Irish family, the foreign holiday was substituted by a day out at the beach. Happily, in many coastal counties, we have some great beaches. If only we had reliable warm sunshine to go with it, we’d be less likely to flee the rain each summer.

When my father announced a day trip to the beach an almost inexplicable excitement pervaded the household. We’d need the beach accoutrements-buckets and spades, fishing nets, beach towels, a picnic (surely we could rise higher than Tayto cheese and onion?) and sun-tan lotion (today we’d pack sunblock). The Ford Escort was loaded down with all-sorts and the last minute checks “Did you leave a note for the milkman?” annoyingly delayed our rising excitement.

At long last, off we went. Songs, mostly those repetitive ditties learned in scout and girl guide troops were sung with gusto-I wonder now how parents put up with the raucous.

After interminable “Are we there yets?”  we finally joined the traffic jam near the beach. Dollymount strand on Bull Island was the beach we went to and it was packed with families.

Too packed. On one such visit, my younger brother disappeared. A golden-haired boy, he sometimes drifted off and this day, it seemed, he did it again. My mother was hysterical. A search was instituted and everyone around us was asked to look out for a “lovely little boy with blond hair”.

After a fruitless scan of the strand, I decided to search the sand dunes. I soon drifted off into my own happy world. Graylings were found.

Large butterflies bounded up from just under my feet (alas, why didn’t I bring my net and jam jar?), flying energetically for a few feet (no metres back then), then apparently disappearing. They look ashy grey when settled with its wings shut but when it pops up its forewing a warm orange underside with a startling white-pupilled black eye-spot hoves into view. It then explodes into flight. I would leap up turning 360 degrees to find it, but by then it was gone.

The butterfly rarely bothers with flowers so seeking out patches of flowers did not help me to re-locate it. The best way to find the butterfly was just to keep going until another one was disturbed. When I got a glimpse of the lovely warm tawny patches on the upper surfaces of the wings when the butterfly is in flight, it was and is a great disappointment that it always settles with its wings closed.

Luckily, it tends to occur in colonies, so you rarely meet just one individual. In some suitable dunes, usually eroding dunes with a mixture of exposed sand and patches of Marram and fine grasses, dozens can be seen. Great sites can be found in parts of the dunes at Brittas Bay, County Wicklow and south of Cahore, County Wexford.

But the 1970s were better times for butterflies. The Grayling, it seems, is not as abundant or as widespread as it was then.  Rated as Near Threatened on the Irish Red List, it has lost habitat along its coastal strongholds due to the loss of rough grazing, protection of dunes by fencing them off which often results in dense Marram growth, invasive species taking over dunes, the development of golf links which changes the vegetation,  coastal erosion and fire damage. Unfortunately, it also seems to be increasingly absent from areas of dunes that still appear to be suitable-this always creates a most uneasy feeling; either something is fundamentally wrong with our world or a subtle change has occurred in the habitat that we are yet unaware of, so a remedy is not to hand.

Recent searches of the dunes at Bull Island has failed to find it. A search of the dunes at Portmarnock revealed a single Grayling and that individual was flying northwards up the beach, clearly on the move. It was not seen at Howth either.

We would appreciate your sightings of this butterfly. If you are walking any coastal area in the next two weeks, please keep an eye out for it. The butterfly can be found on rocky areas that have grassy areas as well as on sand dunes with bare and vegetated areas. It also occurs inland in rocky places. Send us your name, date of your sightings, the number of butterflies seen, place name and a six-figure grid reference, available here: https://irish.gridreferencefinder.com/

Our email address for these records is: conservation.butterfly@gmail.com

A photo of the habitat would also be very useful.

As for the “lovely little boy with blond hair”, he was eventually found beside the ice-cream van where he was handed ice cream by parents buying for their own children!

 

In an episode in the political satire sitcom, Yes Minister, Sir Arnold, the Cabinet Secretary and Sir Humphrey Appleby, a Permanent Secretary, are conspiring to defeat an idealistic cabinet minister’s reform. Sir Arnold mentions the rule of least relevance: the more you talk about something, the less you intend to do about it.

Politicians are renowned for their communication skills. They are professional communicators, communicating, often selling their message, to their consumer, the voter. With an army of advisers, both private and paid civil servants, politicians are counselled in the art of remaining on message. The English language, so malleable, is sent into battle in the form of press releases, online quips, speeches, media interviews and government reports.

We’ve had the National Peatlands Strategy 2015, the national biodiversity and climate emergency declared by the Dáil on May 9th 2019, the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 (awaiting the approval of the Taoiseach and EU heads of government), commitments in the various party manifestos 2020 and commitments in the programme for government, Our Shared Future 2020. The Programme for Government uses the word “Biodiversity” 51 times. The Programme commits to “Review the protection (including enforcement of relevant legislation) of our natural heritage, including hedgerows, native woodland, and wetlands” and to “Coordinate the actions in the Programme for Government regarding peatlands to maximise the benefits for biodiversity.”

And what is there to show for these words?

A skim through the list of sites designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs) will show that a great many of these sites are bogs, fens or other wetlands. The ongoing damage being done to many of these bogs is astonishing.

Let us look at just one example. Mouds Bog, near Newbridge in County Kildare, is a Special Area of Conservation. It is a raised bog, one of our most important habitats and the habitat type that is being rapidly destroyed throughout the Irish midlands.

Domestic turf cutting continues to this day on this site, which, Butterfly Conservation Ireland understands, is done without ministerial consent. Some small areas of the cutover have been reclaimed for agriculture in recent years. Burning has taken place in the recent past, and there is extensive damage in the west of the site due to previous industrial peat production. These are all activities that have resulted in the loss of species, habitat, and damage to the hydrological status of the site and pose a continuing threat to its viability. Within the last 20 years, County Kildare’s last remaining Red Grouse population has ceased to exist on this bog and the Curlew has not managed to successfully breed in there in recent years.

It is our understanding that local National Parks and Wildlife enforcement staff are instructed not to patrol this site or any other protected bogs in the region. We are aware that flights have been made over the site by staff of the National Parks and Wildlife Service to take photographs of the ongoing illegal damage but despite the collection of this data, no prosecutions have been taken to ensure that the illegal activity is ended.

Why is this blatant example of wildlife crime not being tackled? It is not as if the powers to do so are lacking. There are severe penalties for damaging a Special Area of Conservation. Under European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 “such person shall be liable on summary conviction to a Class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both, or on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both.’’

Butterfly Conservation Ireland has written to the Minister at the Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Malcolm Noonan, to see what he intends doing about this illegal destruction.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service contains some excellent, dedicated staff who tackle some very difficult issues. Given the right support, the staff would have the additional confidence needed to tackle these important challenges. The culture in the organisation must change so that it can protect our habitats. This lead must come from the government.

Many of our most threatened bird species breed on bogs and other wetland types. The same can be said for some of our rarer butterflies. Unless the protection of our habitats is enforced, we will almost certainly be looking at the extinction of some bird and butterfly species locally and even nationally.

Words are not enough. Action now.

The photographs below show the ongoing damage being done to raised bogs.

A drenching in June and July has not helped our butterflies but the good news for gardeners is that the big influx of butterflies into our gardens typically takes place in August up to mid-September. For those of you who are doing the National Garden Butterfly Survey, keep a special lookout on sunny days over the coming weeks. The form is here: National Garden Butterfly Survey

Here are a selection of butterflies to look for in your garden now.

All photographs © J.Harding.

 

Hedgerow Destruction During the Bird Nesting Season Punished by the Courts

Ireland’s hedgerows are a vital resource for wildlife. The vast majority of the country’s hedges consist of native trees, herbs and grasses providing food and resting places for a great range of butterflies, moths, birds and mammals. About 595 species of larger moths have been found in Ireland. Many are dependent on hedges. Indeed, the Programme for Government mentions hedges and contains a number of commitments to review their protection (including enforcement of the relevant legislation). The government have indicated that they will re-double their efforts to protect Irelands’ natural heritage, including our hedgerows, our native woodland, our wetlands, and to complete a national hedgerow survey.

Aside from biodiversity benefits, hedges add enormously to the appearance of our landscapes. How naked and characterless would our countryside appear without hedges? It is vital that our National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) enforce the laws to defend this national resource. Their drive to protect hedges was evident when NPWS formerly of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht brought a case under Wildlife Acts before Judge Catherine Staines in Tullamore District Court on 20th July 2020.

The case was prosecuted for the Department by William Maher and the State Solicitor for County Offaly, Sandra Mahon. Mr Michael Cahill, Knockspur, Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary was summonsed under Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts for the destruction by grubbing up using a Hymac vegetation on lands not then cultivated and on vegetation growing in a hedge during the bird nesting season, which runs from the 1st of March to the 31st of August each year. The offences took place on lands at Gortcreen, Shinrone, Co. Offaly on April 09th and 10th 2019. This activity involved the destruction of over 300 metres of vegetation growing in a hedge, and on lands not then cultivated during the bird nesting season.

Mr Cahill entered a guilty plea through defending solicitor, Donal Farrelly. William Maher BL outlined the facts of the case to the court and highlighted the fact that the offence took place at a particularly sensitive time for nesting birds. Judge Staines warned the defendant that the matter had serious implications for nesting birds and other wildlife and told him not to engage in similar activity or come before her again on similar charges. If he did, the outcome would be more serious. Judge Staines then required a €300 contribution to be made by Mr Cahill to a suitable wildlife charity payable by the September sitting of Tullamore District Court in lieu of a conviction.

In that regard, NPWS Conservation Rangers who took the case nominated Butterfly Conservation Ireland.

Commenting, Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Malcolm Noonan said:

“I welcome this prosecution as hedgerows are vitally important for our wildlife and contribute hugely to biodiversity.

There have been other successful prosecutions this year taken by the NPWS for illegal vegetation clearance and hedge-cutting in counties Laois, Tipperary and Waterford.

The minister added: “It is the department’s policy to prosecute those found in breach of the legislation, including public bodies, and any incidents of illegal burning, clearing of vegetation or hedge-cutting should be reported to the local National Parks and Wildlife Service Office or an An Garda Síochána.”

Butterfly Conservation Ireland wishes to congratulate everyone involved. Their actions ensure that our heritage has the protection it so badly needs. We further hope that this case sends out the message that breaches of the wildlife laws will be prosecuted. We also wish to thank a journalist present in court for sending us the details of this case.

 

Summer 2020 is a dull, wet contrast to the sunny, dry spring. But summer butterflies have to get out and get their business done. Butterflies are great at making the most of the brief sunny windows, flinging themselves into the sun, urgency the byword, feeding, mating and egg-laying achieved efficiently. The poor summer of 2009 was no bar to Silver-washed Fritillaries, despite fears that it suffered from a lack of opportunity to lay down the next generation. In the summer of 2010, it emerged in good numbers.

Of course, there have to be some good days. Prolonged bad weather can cause serious damage. Grassland butterflies can be badly hit by unsuitable weather. A long period of extreme, rainless heat can destroy larval foodplants. Bitter cold can ground butterflies, making them easy prey to amphibians, birds and spiders.

A good butterfly-watching tip is to visit good habitat on a warm sunny morning directly after a few days of rain. A burst of activity will often be your experience. I remember showing a friend a beautiful habitat in the Burren in County Clare on a sunny afternoon after a couple of days and a morning of heavy downpours. On this early August afternoon, dozens of butterflies fluttered around wet but fragrant blooms. There was tremendous energy and excitement in the air as though nature celebrated the sun’s revival. Golden Brimstones, chestnut Brown Hairstreaks, gleaming Small Coppers, shimmering Common Blues among others burst into view, happy to be out!

Butterfly life is often short so they have to make the most of their time. Their ability to fit so much into short intervals means that we generally have the most adaptable butterflies in Ireland. As long as our butterflies have their habitats…

Here is a selection of what is on offer in July.

Photos J.Harding

 

Take a look at these two photographs, taken in  County Kildare this month.

We are trying to understand more about the life cycle of this colonising butterfly. The colour of the butterfly is a major help in unravelling the details of the ways the butterfly breeds, especially the timing of breeding.

The Comma exists in two colour forms, the dark form which also shows a more deeply indented outline and the light, more golden form, known as the Hutchinsoni form, after the famous Comma breeder, Emma Hutchinson from Herefordshire, who bred the golden form named after her.

The light form is a short-lived, direct breeder while the dark form is the long-lived delayed breeder. The light form flies in July and August and breeds shortly after it hatches from the pupa and dies off long before winter. The dark form is usually seen in September and October and in spring. The dark form Commas flying now delay breeding until next year.

The Dark Commas flying now will be joined in hibernation by the offspring of the light form, all of which are dark Commas. This means that two generations of dark form Commas pass the winter in hibernation. These are the summer emerging dark form and the autumn emerging dark form Commas. All the Commas breeding in spring are dark form butterflies.

Until recently, the Commas reported in July were light form butterflies. Now we are seeing dark individuals, a development that is influenced at least partly by overcast weather during the larval stage.

We would like your help to investigate the prevalence of delayed breeding by the Comma in summer. Please send us your Comma records with photos to us at conservation.butterfly@gmail.com.

Your records should be phrased as follows:

Mike Smith (21/07/2020)

Comma 2, one light and one dark at T 11261 25271, Raven Point Nature Reserve, Co. Wexford. Sunny, 21C.

We will publish your record on our Records Page unless you ask us not to.

If you are not sure what form you are seeing, we should be able to judge this from the photographs. The butterfly’s underside is a great help in determining the form, so images of the underside are really valuable.

The Comma can turn up anywhere, including in gardens, but rides and clearings in woods, canal and river banks with Stinging Nettles are the usual places to find it.

We look forward to hearing from you!

 

A raised bog at Milltownpass in County Westmeath was at issue in a case before the High Court on July 10th. A local man Daragh Coyne had been committed four weeks previously to Mountjoy prison by Mr Justice Barr for breaching court orders against him obtained by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Mr Coyne had defied these orders by cutting turf illegally and erecting a gate and signage on the bog.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service was concerned turf would be extracted from the NHA, because turf cutting equipment stored close to the where the material had been dumped.

The service claimed that in 2019 Mr Coyne had engaged a contractor to cut turf on the NHA and it was feared he would cut turf on the lands again in 2020.

Peat extraction from the bog was banned in 2017, the court heard.

On July 10th Mr Coyne came before the court and agreed to comply with the orders. He promised not to cut any turf on the site, which is partly owned by the Minister and by a member of Mr Coyne’s family.

Mr Justice Barr said that based on the undertakings given to the court by Mr Coyne he was satisfied that Mr Coyne had purged his contempt, and “was free to go home.”

The judge also agreed to a request by the service’s counsel James O’Donnell to adjourn the matter until late July to see if the undertakings have been complied with.

The bog at Milltownpass is located 1 km north-east of Milltownpass, in the townlands of Pass of Kilbride and Claremount or Cummingstown in County Westmeath. The site comprises a raised bog that includes both areas of high bog and cutover bog and can be accessed from the local road off the N6 to the east of the site.

The bog contains vegetation strongly representative of a high-quality midlands-type raised bog including some wet and quaking areas. Vegetation present includes Ling Heather, Hare’s-tail Cottongrass, White Beak-sedge, Cross-leaved Heath, Bog Asphodel,  Cranberry and Bog Rosemary.  It is of considerable importance especially given its easterly location.

Butterfly Conservation Ireland congratulates the National Parks and Wildlife Service for taking the case to protect the site. A well-staffed, vigilant and motivated service is vital for the task of protecting our heritage and we urge the new minister at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Catherine Martin, to ensure the service has the resources it needs.

Marsh Fritillary Protected in Natura 2000 sites
Country	Number of sites designated	Position by site number
France	380	1
Spain	314	2
Germany	192	3
Italy	122	4
Portugal	48	5
United Kingdom	41	6
Poland	38	7
Slovenia	35	8
Sweden	31	9
Austria	29	10
Croatia	27	11
Hungary	22	12
Lithuania	22	12
Romania	22	12
Belgium	21	15
Czech Republic	21	15
Republic of Ireland	16	16
Bulgaria	13	17
Latvia	11	18
Estonia	10	19
Luxembourg	10	19
Greece	5	20

If you like Premiership soccer you are probably delighted it’s back. For the first time since 2013, I actually look forward to watching Manchester United play. Attacking with pace, style and confidence makes them a thrill to watch. I am kicking every ball.

United are trying to break into the top four and currently sit just outside, in the fifth position. There is a Champions’ League place for teams that finish in the top four, with eye-watering TV money and massive media exposure a clear incentive to achieve a top-four finish.

At the bottom end of the table, teams struggle to avoid relegation to the Championship, the division below the Premier League. No-one wants to drop. The loss of money, prestige, identity and momentum really hurts.

If Ireland’s record on protecting its special, protected species was part of a competitive league, we’d be fighting to stave off the misery of relegation. Ireland has only given specific legal protection to the endangered Marsh Fritillary butterfly’s habitat on  16 sites. As you can see from the table, we lie a miserable 16th but really it is worse than that. Much worse. We should be bottom of the league, staring miserably at more illustrious teams that celebrate their special butterflies and their special habitats.

Before this is explained a little background is needed. The Marsh Fritillary butterfly is protected under the Berne Convention and the European Union Habitats’ Directive 1992. All species listed on Annex II of the Habitats’ Directive are protected, and EU member states must designate core areas of habitat for the species on Annex II, such as the Marsh Fritillary. These sites must be managed in accordance with the ecological needs of the species.

Ireland has provided sixteen designated sites. But the butterfly is extinct on some of them. On some of the sites, breeding is sporadic and the butterfly is frequently absent from the site. The Marsh Fritillary has been absent from Killarney National Park since the early 1990s.  The butterfly disappeared from Ballynafagh Lake, County Kildare in the late 1990s. On these sites, part of the breeding area overgrew with rank grasses and woodland shaded out the remaining habitat.

In another designated area, Moneen Mountain, the species was not found when the area was surveyed around 2006. In its designated site in County Westmeath, it has been missing for some years. This site, Scragh Bog, does not hold enough or perhaps no longer has any suitable breeding habitat for the butterfly.  In Offaly, Clara Bog was designated for the butterfly where very little suitable habitat is present and the butterfly breeds there only intermittently.

In one of its Donegal sites, Sheskinmore, the species still occurs but in some years it is barely detectable. These do not appear to be “core areas” for the species as required by EU law, so why designate them for the butterfly?

There are suitable sites with large populations of the Marsh Fritillary, such as Cloonoo/Yellow Bog, just west of Loughrea, that are undesignated and therefore in a vulnerable situation.

Let us compare Ireland’s designation record to that of some other EU states. The Republic of Ireland’s 16 sites for a land area of 68,883 square kilometres compares unfavourably with  Luxembourg,  with 10 designated sites in only 2,586 square kilometres.

Greece designated just five sites. However, the Marsh Fritillary’s range in Greece is restricted to a small area in the north of the country while in Ireland the Marsh Fritillary’s range includes the entire island.

Belgium lies just above Ireland in the table with 21 designated sites. Belgium has an area of 30,689 square kilometres, less than half the land area of the Republic of Ireland and a much larger human population.

Let’s leave all that to one side, bad as it looks. Let’s see how well Ireland’s 16 designated sites are managed. All are listed here.

The sites are Ardara (Sheskinmore), Ballynafagh,  Barrigone, Bricklieve Mountains & Keishcorran, Bunduff/and Machair/Trawalua/Mullaghmore, Carrowbehy/Caher Bog, Clara Bog. Cloonchambers Bog, Connemara Bog Complex,  Gweedore Bay and Islands, Killarney National Park, Macgillycuddy’s Reeks and Caragh River Catchment, Moneen Mountain, Scragh Bog, Sheephaven Bay and  St John’s Point.

None of these sites has a management plan, according to the Natura 2000 forms for each site on the website of the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Without a proper management regime, which usually involves cattle grazing and scrub control, the butterfly dies out on many of its sites. The state has used the passive conservation approach of declaring a protected area and abandoning its responsibilities to our wildlife. Without active management for the Marsh Fritillary, it is little wonder it was lost from, for example, Ballynafagh which had suitable habitat before it was allowed to deteriorate.

At Butterfly Conservation Ireland’s reserve at Lullybeg, County Kildare, a thriving Marsh Fritillary population exists on a managed site. We manage this reserve as volunteers. We do not have the resources the state commands.

In short, there is no excuse.

A country without its natural heritage is a wasteland. That’s what relegation looks like. At least when a football team is relegated it might win promotion the following season. With some habitats that are allowed to deteriorate restoration is not so easy and for destroyed bogs, impossible.