Author: Jesmond Harding

William Golding’s first novel, the classic and terrifying Lord of the Flies, was published in 1954.

In its sunlit darkness, the book explores the failure of civilisation, a self-inflicted failure. The group of British schoolboys, aged 6-12, are marooned following a plane crash on a beautiful, deserted island. The island is a paradise. Grassy and sandy beaches, a coral reef, trees dripping with delicious fruit and coconuts, drinking water, red and yellow birds, blue flowers, a pink granite mountain clothed with tropical jungle, and wild pigs to provide meat. The boys have no grown-ups to order them about. On their first day, the boys elect Ralph, a handsome, tall, athletic boy, as their chief. After all, he blew the ‘trumpet-thing’, the beautiful deep-cream conch (seashell), to summon the marooned boys to a meeting.

Ralph, Simon and Jack leave to climb the highest point to determine whether they are on an island or mainland, to calculate their chances of rescue. Gazing over the island from the peak, Ralph declares, ‘This belongs to us.’

Ralph and Piggy (overweight and derided by most; Piggy is intelligent, sensitive and insightful) know the boys need order. Ralph calls meetings to decide what to do. Meetings are called by blowing the conch, which creates a booming sound. Anyone wishing to speak must raise their hand; then Ralph hands him the conch. Holding it confers speaking rights.

The conch symbolises order, protective rules, and civilisation. The novel provides another, juxtaposing symbol: a sow’s head, mounted on a stick, festooned with flies, erected to propitiate an imagined physical beast. It symbolises societal breakdown and the evil within the boys.

Simon, a symbol of Christ-like goodness, hallucinates while staring obsessively at the rotting head. “I’m the beast… You’re not wanted. Understand? Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” (Lord of the Flies,  p.158).

The beast is the inner corruption that turns civilised English schoolboys into murderous savages. Piggy holds the conch tightly as he and Ralph go to confront Jack’s rival tribe and demand back Piggy’s stolen glasses. Roger releases a massive rock that strikes Piggy and shatters the shell into dust. The protection of society’s rules crashes; the conch, and its chief advocate, Piggy, are no more. The boys’ descent into chaos reflects the world’s collapse during World War II, in which the author fought.

At the book’s close, three of the boys are dead, and the island is destroyed by fire. Jack and his hunters hunt to kill Ralph. Ironically, the fire intended to produce smoke to signal their location works, and the boys are rescued.

The powerful final text shows the stationary hunters behind Ralph, who talks to the naval officer:

‘I should have thought’, said the officer as he visualized the scene before him, ‘I should have thought that a pack of British boys-you’re all British aren’t you? -would have been able to put up a better show than that – I mean –’(Lord of the Flies, p.224)

Ralph dissolves in tears: ‘Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.’ (Lord of the Flies, p.225)

The grim perspective on human nature evinced in William Golding’s novel has proved influential. The title has entered culture as a synonym for the anarchy, dehumanisation and destruction of human life and the environment that follows a collapse in the social order. It challenges the idea of human progress that prevailed in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries before the breakdown of the structures of European diplomacy during 1870-1914 unleashed two world wars.

In Ireland, we had our own paradise: purple mountains, sparkling streams, glowing meadows, great woodlands and expanses of dun-coloured bogs, cleaning our water, purifying the air and giving our curlews, wild geese and swans, dragonflies and butterflies places to call home.

We drained the bogs and burned them, leaving broken backs, scarring the landscape with blackness, like Golding’s torched island. This polluted our rivers, polluted our air, overheated our world and eliminated nature that relied on peatlands.

Nature is trying to recover. After peat extraction ended on the state-owned bogs, drains on some bogs were blocked, the water returned, and some healing began. Native flora and grasses appeared in some areas of cutover bog; native woods, formerly confined to drier margins of wet bogs, now began to wave their verdant selves, inviting leaf warblers and woodland butterflies to colonise.

A mosaic of grassland, woodland, bog, fen, reed swamp and open water developed, summoning animals that breed in developing habitats.

There must be no going back. The pristine bogs are gone, but they must be positioned for recovery.

This is incompatible with plans to drain the surviving peat, construct 64 kms of industrial roads, cabling, hard stands and wind turbines. Whooper Swans cannot co-locate with wind turbines on the Bog of Allen, Ireland’s most famous bog.

All Kildare’s Marsh Fritillary colonies are on peatlands. Drainage changes the habitat character, accelerating scrub development that eliminates the unshaded areas caterpillars need to develop. The Marsh Fritillary is Ireland’s only legally protected insect, and Ireland’s populations are important in the European context, given their huge declines elsewhere, especially in northern and western Europe.

The variation in the butterfly’s complex patterning and the depth of colour within populations reflects the range in its genetic makeup and the diversity of ecological conditions in its habitats. It is therefore a powerful symbol of the complexity and richness of our island and a metaphor for the diversity of habitats on our wonderful peatlands.

Another beautiful butterfly, the Brimstone, loves the species-rich scrub, flower-rich grassland and bog woodland in the Bog of Allen. The male Brimstone’s pure golden colour is a breath-taker, a potent symbol of the beauty of the Bog of Allen.

Our need for clean energy is far better met on farmland, as is the case in Pays de la Loire, France, in highly productive arable land there and across Europe and North America. Livestock graze happily beside turbines and crops grow right up to the foundation.

These do not damage farmland and do not require the huge drainage there. In the United States, by 2020, all the wind and solar farms covered about 424,000 acres combined, less than 0.05% of total U.S. farmland.

Restored peatlands and intact peatlands give us clean air, but only when undrained. When plants, trees, or shrubs in a waterlogged environment die and subside into the ground, they only partially decompose, forming a layer of carbon-rich peat. Left undisturbed, those layers build, sometimes meters thick. Known by many names—bogs, fens, and mires—peatlands occupy 4 million square kilometres, about 3% of the Earth’s land surface, but they store more than a third of the world’s soil carbon—twice as much as the temperate and tropical world’s forests combined. They are also home to diverse wildlife and flora and provide natural water storage and filtration.

Experiments in North Carolina estimate that peatlands in the study site store about 3,450 tonnes of peat per hectare, representing about 12,650 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare. The North Carolina peatlands are c.10,000 years old, the same age as Irish peatlands.

Peatlands exist for a range of reasons. These vital ecosystems deliver climate action services by capturing and retaining climate-warming gases, help attenuate floods by holding water longer than any other ecosystem, filter drinking water and provide habitats for specialist plants and animals.

The global biodiversity crisis is especially acute in Ireland, other parts of northern Europe and on many islands. Ireland has one of the lowest levels of biodiversity intactness globally. The crisis in Ireland is well documented. The Status of EU Protected Habitats & Species in Ireland, 2025 Summary Report finds that 90% of Ireland’s protected habitats are in ‘unfavourable’ conservation status, while 51% are showing deteriorating trends across their national ranges.

The Bog of Allen holds at least 13 species and seven habitats listed in Annex II and Annex I of the Habitats Directive, respectively (known as qualifying interests used to designate Special Areas of Conservation.  The recently published document, The Status of EU Protected Habitats & Species in Ireland, 2025 Summary Report (Article 17 report), ranks the condition of six of these habitats as ‘Bad’ and the remaining habitat type is described as ‘Inadequate.’

The presence of 20 qualifying interests used to designate Special Areas of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive, for natural habitats and species of wild fauna and flora of Community interest, makes the Bog of Allen an exceptional area for nature and for a new national park. Habitats exist at the landscape scale essential to the long-term conservation of species. The Grey Partridge and Eurasian Curlew have been lost from the region, and the Large Heath butterfly remains in a very small portion of its former distribution. Species, habitats and climate action cannot be supported if the landscape is industrialised. The opportunity to enhance and protect the habitats and species is only available now.

We don’t need to wreck the recovery underway in the Bog of Allen. Mankind doesn’t have to act in this way. Sometimes we do things better.

In 1965-1966, a group of six boys marooned on a Pacific island for 15 months managed rather better than their fictional British counterparts populating Golding’s novel. The boys found themselves on a deserted island after ‘borrowing’ a boat from a local fisherman in Tonga. A storm damaged the boat, and after drifting for eight days, they arrived at the island. They grew their own food, built chicken pens to keep chickens they found in the island’s crater, fed on seabirds’ eggs, fruit and fish, stored rainwater in hollowed-out trunks, and, unlike Ralph, Jack and the other boys in Lord of the Flies, kept a signal fire going.

They agreed to work in teams of two, drawing up a strict roster for garden, kitchen and guard duty. Sometimes they quarrelled, but whenever that happened, they solved it by imposing a time-out. Their days began and ended with song and prayer. When one of the boys broke his leg, the others set it using sticks and leaves. It healed. The boys were rescued after 15 months. People in their homeland were amazed. They’d already held funerals for them. The boys didn’t deforest or burn Ata Island. They lived sustainably. (Three of the six are still alive; three have died since 2020.)

The boys recovered from their ordeal. Landscapes can too, given our care. Our civilisation depends on maintaining our landscapes. Those with responsibility for decisions about our land must remember that.

For updates on the campaign to save the Bog of Allen, visit https://www.nationalpeatlandspark.com/

References

ABJ Renewables (2026) Do Wind Farms Damage Land? Available at:  https://abjdrones.com/do-wind-turbines-damage-land/ (accessed 04 October 2026).

Bregman, R. (09 May 2020) The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months The Guardian. Online at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/09/the-real-lord-of-the-flies-what-happened-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months (Accessed 04 October 2026)

Golding, W. (1954) Lord of the Flies. Faber and Faber, London.

IUCN Peatland Programme (2026) Peatland Benefits Available at: https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/about-peatlands/peatland-benefits (accessed 04 October 2026).

NPWS (2025). The Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland. Volume 1: Summary Overview. Unpublished NPWS report.
Edited by: Domhnall Finch, Aoife Delaney, Fionnuala O’Neill and Deirdre Lynn

Palmer, J. Bog power: How restoring peatlands can sustain biodiversity and mitigate climate change BioScience, Volume 74, Issue 10, October 2024, Pages 671–676, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae028 (Accessed 04 October 2026)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Butterfly Conservation Ireland’s reserve in Lullybeg, Kildare, is a special place for the Marsh Fritillary and many other butterflies, moths, dragonflies, and other species. The reserve is monitored using the transect count method, which involves counting all butterflies within a 5-metre square area along a fixed route walk in favourable weather each week between 1st April and 30th September, a total of 26 weeks.

The final count of 2026 was made on September 28th. Despite the late September date, 43 individual butterflies were counted:

Small Copper 2, Red Admiral 23, Painted Lady 1, Small Tortoiseshell 5, Comma 15, Speckled Wood 2.

This year, Jesmond Harding and Pat Wyse made the counts using the forms containing the standardised methodology issued by the National Biodiversity Data Centre. The results, sent to the National Biodiversity Data Centre, also appear in Butterfly Conservation Ireland’s Annual Report. These can be found here:  https://butterflyconservation.ie/wp/report/

The reserve supports an excellent diversity of woodland and grassland butterflies, and the area is managed to maintain the supporting habitats.

The conservation applied this September was cattle grazing. Cattle effectively maintain the undulating structure in grassland. Cattle graze less selectively than sheep and graze higher up in the vegetation. This creates a patchwork of sward heights, which creates greater floral diversity. Cattle also reduce sward heights, which increases light penetration and raises temperatures close to the surface of the soil. The temperatures just above the surface are crucial for many caterpillars. Poaching by cattle exposes the soil, which is excellent for butterflies like the Dingy Skipper, which enjoys basking on unvegetated surfaces. Poaching also exposes seed to light, supporting germination.

Butterfly Conservation Ireland would not be able to provide these benefits without help from local farmer Philip Doyle. Philip shows his care for local nature by delivering the cattle, ensuring that the fencing is suitable and that the animals have the water they need. We are grateful to Philip for this vital assistance.

Lullybeg Reserve is one of only two reserves in Ireland managed for butterflies. The other, Lullymore West Bog Reserve, which is nearby, is managed by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council. These reserves benefit from support from members of both organisations. Please continue to support the conservation and research taking place in both reserves.

All photographs copyright of Jesmond Harding.

The golden September we often get is not ours in 2026, but many sunny Septembers offer a modicum of compensation for miserable summers. Summer 2026 was glorious, surpassing 1976 and 1989. Will it pass into the collective memory as a standout summer? That might depend on how we interpret climate data. We are in a time when hot, sunny weather is characterised as evidence of the collapse of the stability that has long characterised the global climate. Can’t we enjoy a hot summer without worrying? Apparently not.

That is not to be flippant about climate change, whether human-induced or arising from other influences. However, a remarkable feature of lepidopteran ecology is the rapid response to changing seasonal, climatic and environmental conditions. Changing climatic conditions can mean that ecological conditions within an area that were previously unsuitable for breeding become available for breeding. This is happening in Europe, Britain and Ireland.

The northward shift in butterfly and moth ranges is particularly evident in Europe, where range expansion does not require crossing water bodies.  Species like the Map butterfly and the Peacock butterfly are extending their European range northward. The Brown Argus, formerly confined to breeding on  Common rock-rose in the warmest habitats on chalk and limestone grassland in Southern England and Wales, has now expanded its British range, using cranesbills in cooler grasslands because the warming climate allows it to use these larval foodplants. Some species do not benefit from the warming climate, and some species benefit from the increasing warmth in some parts of their range and suffer declines in other regions.

Range expansions in continental Europe influence Britain and Ireland to a lesser degree; many species expanding on the continent will avoid crossing seas. However, migrant species are more mobile, and some show indications of establishing populations in these islands.

The most notable expansion from an Irish viewpoint is the Comma. Unknown in the Republic of Ireland before 2000, it has now been recorded in more than half of Ireland’s 10km squares, and its northward and westward expansion continues.

The lush Stinging Nettles along damp hedgerows, wood rides and edges, riverbanks and elsewhere suit it perfectly. It is thriving, producing two generations and is now a staple part of the butterfly experience in the east and midlands. Hedges holding blackberries and flowering ivy are the places to look in the general farmed countryside; wet grasslands and dry limestone grasslands with Devil’s-bit Scabious are also likely per-hibernation feeding grounds.

A stay-at-home butterfly to look for in September is the Brimstone. Most are in hibernation, but a few still feed on late flowers, especially Devil’s-bit Scabious, before disappearing into woods, scrub and dense grassland vegetation until next spring.

A glorious autumn moth that flies in a single generation in September-October is Merveille du Jour Griposia aprilina. Its scientific name is a strange choice. Linnaeus named it after April, when it is a larva, munching on oak leaves. Perhaps Linnaeus was thinking of the moth’s verdant colouring when composing the name. The moth is best imagined on oak boughs encrusted with lichens, where the moth becomes virtually invisible.

Photographs copyright J. Harding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

What is the main tool used by the state to protect the Marsh Fritillary butterfly?

The Marsh Fritillary is the only insect in Ireland that has legal protection. How is this implemented, and how successful is this effort?

Under the EU Habitats Directive 1992, certain geological features, habitats and species must be protected within Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). One of the species is the Marsh Fritillary butterfly. Ireland had to identify areas important for the Marsh Fritillary butterfly and designate them as Special Areas of Conservation. This was also required of European Union countries with populations of the butterfly. Where an area is designated for the butterfly, the butterfly is named as a ‘qualifying interest’ for the Special Area of Conservation. The full list of Ireland’s SACs can be found here:

https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/files/SAC%20quick%20reference%20table(1).pdf

How many Special Areas of Conservation have been designated for the Marsh Fritillary?

Ireland listed 12 SACs with the Marsh Fritillary as a qualifying interest (other qualifying interests are listed too). The 12 sites are listed here:

https://www.npws.ie/protected-sites/search/by-feature?feature%5B%5D=6133&designation%5B%5D=375

A check of the documents available for each site at https://www.npws.ie/protected-sites is interesting reading. The documents consist of

1. Conservation Objectives: these aim to define favourable conservation conditions for particular habitats or species at that site. The Conservation Objectives state whether the Marsh Fritillary is present and the area of suitable habitat within the SAC.

2. Site Synopsis: this states the site location, and summarises the habitats, species, and importance of the site and comments on any threats to the site’s conservation values.

3. Statutory Instrument (SI) and SAC maps: The SI designates the SAC, states the qualifying interest species and habitats, and sets out the activities that require ministerial consent. The maps identify the area occupied by the SAC.

What do the Conservation Objective Reports tell us about the butterfly’s status on the sites?

The Marsh Fritillary was recorded in just four of the 12 SACs where the butterfly is named as a ‘qualifying interest’. These are:

1. Bricklieve Mountains and Keishcorran SAC
2. East Burren Complex SAC
3. Moneen Mountain SAC
4. West of Ardara/Maas Road SAC

My records indicate it is extinct in Ballynafagh (last recorded 1999) and Killarney (last recorded 2006); the Barrigone report states that there are no confirmed records for that site. Remarkably, the Barrigone report states:

The association of the species with the SAC derives from a paper by Lavery (1993) which refers to a site called Foynes/Barrigone as one of three major populations in Ireland. A 2012 survey did not find the species in the SAC (Wilson et al., 2013).

Was Lavery correct when he wrote the paper? Did NPWS undertake a survey to confirm the species before the site was designated? Why is the Marsh Fritillary listed as a qualifying interest if it is absent?

The area occupied by the Marsh Fritillary at Barrigone has dried out and is now overgrown with scrub. Geoffrey Hunt, a reliable recorder, has searched the area regularly since 1998 and has not seen any Marsh Fritillary on the site. Geoffrey’s knowledge of the site raises questions concerning this statement from the site’s Conservation Objectives report:

In 2012, just over 9ha of habitat was assessed as suitable for the species (NPWS, 2019).

Is there any suitable habitat at Barrigone?

The Conservation Objective reports for the following four sites where the Marsh Fritillary is a qualifying interest for the SAC do not even mention the butterfly:

1. Bunduff Lough and Machair/Trawalua/Mullaghmore

2. Gweedore Bay and Islands SAC

3. Sheephaven SAC

4. St. John’s Point SAC.

I visited Bunduff Lough and Machair/Trawalua/Mullaghmore SAC (terrestrial area 1,812.12ha) and St. John’s Point SAC (terrestrial area 152.08ha) and found larval webs within these sites. However, while I did not measure the area of suitable habitat on these sites, the areas are not extensive.

I calculated the combined area of the SACs (excluding maritime areas for coastal sites) and, where provided, the area of suitable habitat for the butterfly. In two Burren SACs, NPWS estimated suitable habitat. Combined, the 12 SACs contain 159,647.26 hectares. The total suitable habitat stated is 5,725.2 hectares.

The ratio of suitable habitat in hectares to overall terrestrial area in these SACs is 1:28. There is one hectare of suitable habitat for the Marsh Fritillary for every 28 hectares of land.

The Marsh Fritillary occupies the landscape in a metapopulation structure. It needs a network of sites within a region for long-term survival. In England, the minimum figure is 50ha (50ha2 is ½ km2) of suitable habitat within an area of 16km2 (1600ha) Bulman et al., 2007. (This ratio is 1ha: 32ha.). Modelling suggests the species may persist in areas below this area for decades, but extinction will eventually result unless additional habitat is provided. Irish research is needed concerning this aspect (NPWS, 2019).

If the ecology of the Marsh Fritillary reflects that in England, the combined habitat area across the 12 SACs designated to protect the species slightly exceeds the minimum threshold needed for long-term survival.

However, taken on a regional basis, only the two Burren SACs, which are extensive (but much smaller than the Connemara and Killarney SACs), contain habitat that significantly exceeds the minimum required. The Burren SACs and the habitat and habitat ratios are:

East Burren Complex (18800.65 ha (188 km2)): 3,200 ha (32 km2): ratio 1:6 and Moneen Mountain (6100ha (61 km2): 2,500ha (25 km2): ratio 1:2.4.

A thorough calculation of the ratio in regions holding the smaller SACs would need to factor in any suitable habitat adjoining the SAC to assess the species on a regional basis. It must be stressed that the exercise undertaken here is unrefined. The SACs in question are, in most cases, separated by significant distances and cannot be said to reflect the metapopulation structure of the species, so extrapolating the ratio of suitable habitat to the area in the SACs as a whole inadequately represents the ratio situation described by Bulman et al., which could be much lower in some areas.

The absence of detailed management plans for some SACs is another problem. How do we know if the habitat is being managed correctly? In this regard, it must be emphasised that the Burren’s populations are safe, for now.

This cannot be said of many populations elsewhere. Look at Barrigone, once regarded as one of the three major populations in Ireland. Look at Killarney and Ballynafagh, where it is either very rare or no longer occurs. These are sites where protecting the Marsh Fritillary is a conservation priority.

Protecting the butterfly means protecting its habitat, which preserves many important habitats and species. The absence of the butterfly highlights poor habitat quality, bad practice and lack of care. In the view of this author, the summative assessment is ‘poor result is due to the lack of  serious effort.’

The formative assessment is to apply the required habitat management techniques to restore and maintain habitat within SACs and expand the network of protected areas and manage these areas to meet the minimum habitat size of 50ha within 16km2 to ensure this lovely butterfly’s long-term survival.

Reserves Protecting the Marsh Fritillary

Two areas set aside for nature, where the land is specifically managed for the Marsh Fritillary, are Butterfly Conservation Ireland’s Crabtree Reserve in Lullybeg, and the Irish Peatland Conservation Council’s Lullymore West Butterfly Reserve, both in County Kildare. Both sites hold long-term, thriving populations.  Both sites are managed for the butterfly. In August 2026, surveys found over 80 larval webs at these sites.

How is the Marsh Fritillary doing in Ireland?

An Atlas of Butterflies in Ireland 2010-2021, published in 2025, provides interesting information about the distribution of the Marsh Fritillary in Ireland.

The Atlas shows the species distribution in three periods: 1900-2010, 1995-2010 and 2010-2021. The number of occupied 10km squares in each of the periods is:

1900-2010: 435 (42.7%)

1995-2010: 248 (24.3%)

2010-2021: 355 (34.7%)

The distribution differs significantly across the three time spans, but the figures for the two most recent periods, when recording was more systematic, are more relevant.

A key issue arising with the 2010-2021 recording period is that in 100 of the 353 10km squares, only a single Marsh Fritillary was recorded. The Marsh Fritillary is a colonial species. A single butterfly is not evidence of a colony. If these 100 squares are discounted, this leaves its distribution at 24.8% of Ireland’s 10km squares. This would mean its distribution has remained almost unchanged since the 1995-2010 recording period.

Nevertheless, the distribution change reported in the Atlas in the 2010-2021 period is +43%, indicating a positive trend. This positive finding is supported by the findings of the most recent report by the state to the EU Commission, ‘The Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland 2025′, which assessed the Overall Status of Marsh Fritillary as

Favourable, which represents a genuine improvement since the Inadequate assessment reported in 2019. The change is because of an improvement in the future prospects for range, population and habitat for the species. Threats and pressures do exist but are not considered to be severe or extensive. The overall trend is improving. (NPWS, 2025, Vol. 1, p.52 )

However, this report states that 90% of Ireland’s EU priority habitats are in unfavourable condition, including several habitats used by the species: Molinia meadows, orchid-rich calcareous grassland, alkaline fens, wet heaths, dry heaths, alpine and sub-alpine heaths, machair, dune slacks.

For example, the assessment for orchid-rich calcareous grassland concludes:

Despite a number of conservation-focused farming schemes which bring about localised and regional improvements, the Overall Status is assessed as Bad with a deteriorating trend due to on-going habitat losses mainly associated with unsuitable grazing regimes, agricultural intensification causing loss of species-rich communities, and abandonment of farmland resulting in succession to scrub. This result is unchanged from 2019 (NPWS, 2025, Vol. 1, p. 29 ).

The assessment of Molinia meadows concludes:

The Overall Status is Bad, as it has been for the last three monitoring periods, and the overall trend is still deteriorating, due to on-going losses of habitat. Significant historical losses of this habitat have also occurred since the EU Habitats Directive came into force. The main pressures on the habitat are associated with agricultural intensification (e.g. land drainage, fertiliser application), undergrazing and forestry (NPWS, 2025, Vol. 1, p. 30).

The loss drivers identified are common to many other habitats used by the species. A new threat, renewable energy infrastructure, threatens colonies in cutover bogs.

The Marsh Fritillary also occurs in habitats that do not correspond to the habitat types described in the manuals used to identify EU-protected habitats. The factors mentioned above also threaten these habitats. In addition, many midland populations are in cutover bogs where cutting has ceased. These are becoming overgrown with scrub and woodland, shading the habitats and removing the butterfly; the Marsh Fritillary is shade intolerant.

Conclusion

The continuing decline in the status of EU priority habitats in Ireland threatens many species, including Ireland’s only legally protected insect, the Marsh Fritillary. Unless the loss of habitat is stopped, the butterfly, which is rarely found more than 15km from a known colony and which has disappeared from many areas in northern Europe, will lose its ability to move around in the landscape, key to its capacity to repopulate sites where it has gone extinct due to the impacts of parasitism, unsuitable weather and deterioration of habitat.

Ireland has a low number of butterfly species.  Can’t we protect the few we do have?

All photographs copyright J.Harding

References

Bulman, C.R., Wilson, R.J., Holt, A., Galvez Bravo, L., Early, R., Warren, M.& Thomas, C.D. (2007) Minimum viable metapopulation size, extinction debt, and the conservation of a declining species. Ecological Applications 17: 1460–1473.

Harding, J. & Lysaght, L. (Eds.) (2025) An Atlas of Butterflies in Ireland 2010-2021. The National Biodiversity Data Centre, Waterford.

NPWS (2019). The Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland. Volume 3: Species Assessments. Unpublished NPWS report. Edited by: Deirdre Lynn and Fionnuala O’Neill

NPWS (2025). The Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland. Volume 1: Summary Overview. Unpublished NPWS report.
Edited by: Domhnall Finch, Aoife Delaney, Fionnuala
O’Neill and Deirdre Lynn

NPWS (2021) Conservation Objectives: Ballynafagh Lake SAC 001387. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

NPWS (2019) Conservation Objectives: Barrigone SAC 000432. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

NPWS (2021) Conservation Objectives: Bricklieve Mountains and Keishcorran SAC 001656. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

NPWS (2015) Conservation Objectives: Bunduff Lough and Machair/Trawalua/Mullaghmore SAC 000625. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

NPWS (2015) Conservation Objectives: Connemara Bog Complex SAC 002034. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

NPWS (2022) Conservation Objectives: East Burren Complex SAC 001926. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

NPWS (2015) Conservation Objectives: Gweedore Bay and Islands SAC 001141. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

NPWS (2021) Conservation Objectives: Moneen Mountain SAC 000054. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

NPWS (2017) Conservation Objectives: Killarney National Park, Macgillycuddy’s Reeks and Caragh River Catchment SAC 000365. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

NPWS (2014) Conservation Objectives: Sheephaven SAC 001190. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

NPWS (2015) Conservation Objectives: St. John’s Point SAC 000191. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

NPWS (2015) Conservation Objectives: West of Ardara/Maas Road SAC 000197. Version 1. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

 

The stress imposed by continuing heat and dryness on habitats in a region with thin, free-draining soil and permeable limestone rock was evident in the vegetation, notably the Hazel scrub, which in some places had brown, shrivelled foliage in place of the usual lush green. The grassland vegetation had a distinctive straw colour more typical of southern Europe.

Another feature of the sustained warmth, indicated by the fourth consecutive month when maximum temperatures exceeded 30 Celsius, is the advancement of the season. Some butterflies emerged earlier, while some double-brooded butterfly species (e.g., Small Copper) produced small second broods, possibly due to reduced larval foodplant quality.

Despite the challenges of the changing climate, the Burren is large enough to show resilience, with habitats on deeper soil and on north-facing slopes continuing to retain moisture and greener vegetation.

I had a single day to look for butterflies, and found 19 species. Here is a selection of photographs from Ireland’s best region for butterflies.

The other butterflies observed were Large White,  Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Silver-washed Fritillary, Speckled Wood, Wall Brown, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

A final point: while in the Burren National Park, a lady I do not know approached me to ask if I had seen any Brown Hairstreaks. A sign, one hopes, of a greater interest in our rarest butterflies

All photographs taken during the weekend of 8-9 August 2026 © J. Harding.

 

 

 

It is 29 July as I write, and the summer is flying sunnily by. Despite the glorious weather, populations reported from across the country are low in most cases. Where high numbers are observed, these are usually of two migrants, the Red Admiral and Painted Lady. In short, hot, sunny weather is great for Ireland’s butterflies, but it’s just one ingredient needed for the meal. More resources are required to provide a happy home for butterflies. One explanation for low numbers is the scarcity of resources needed to grow and sustain populations. Populations reflect the carrying capacity of habitats as well as weather and predator populations. With 90% of EU-protected habitats in unfavourable condition, the reason for low abundance is clear.

Despite the ‘great thinning’ of the fabric of the natural world, our butterflies will still fly in August, despite diminished figures.

Here are the species we can hope and expect to encounter.

All photos © J. Harding

Key Reference

Judge, M and Lysaght, L. (2025). The Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme Newsletter, Issue 17. National Biodiversity Data Centre.

 

 

 

Part of Butterfly Conservation Ireland’s strategy to save our butterflies is to advocate for the protection of high-nature value land, especially land in public ownership.

The Bog of Allen in North-West Kildare and East Offaly is such an area. The quality of the habitats is clear in spring and summer, when the abundance of invertebrate and bird life cannot fail to impress.  The bird life over the winter months is impressive, with Whooper Swans, Golden Plover and Lapwing in good numbers. There are five areas in the region set aside for nature at present, but all are small.  One is Butterfly Conservation Ireland’s reserve in Lullybeg. The overall area of the bog is estimated at 5,581 hectares.

A proposal to create Ireland’s largest, tallest wind farm, complete with over 60km of industrial road, would deliver a devastating blow to the region’s nature and nature restoration. This flies in the face of the need to restore habitats in 20% of Ireland’s land (and sea) area by 2030 under the EU Nature Restoration Regulation. We have produced a campaign leaflet to highlight this important issue. We propose that a National Park be established in the region. Ireland has no national park in the midlands and no national park on deep peat.

The leaflet, a collaboration by various conservation organisations, contains advice on what we need you to do.

All Kildare politicians need to understand your feelings on this vital issue for nature.

All of Kildare’s councillors’ contact details are here: https://kildarecoco.ie/YourCouncil/YourElectedCouncil/CouncillorsDetails/

All the Kildare Oireachtas members are here: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/

For the Oireachtas members, enter their name in the Find A Member field.

Kildare’s TDs are: Réada Cronin, Aidan Farrelly, James Lawless, Joe Neville, Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North) and Martin Heydon, Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh, Seán Ó Fearghaíl and Mark Wall (Kildare South).

Offaly’s TDs are: Carol Nolan, John Clendennen and Tony McCormack.

The TDs’ contact details can also be found at: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/constituencies/

Enter the constituency name for their contact details.

You can use details from the leaflet to support your contact.

 

What do warm nights, a great location, friendly people and the right time of year make? A great moth morning. And what a great cache of moth treasure we accumulated in four Robinson traps in Dara and Maire’s garden in Prosperous, Kildare. The garden holds ponds, mostly native trees, scrub, hedges, grassland with native wildflowers and some well-chosen garden flowers such as Fennel. The garden adjoins bogland and Scots pine woodland with resident Barn Owls.

Sounds perfect? That’s what it is!

The moths clearly find it so, all 100-plus species registered so far. Despite a cooler night than recently (it fell to about 11 degrees), there was much to see. The traps were full, and Philip Strickland’s moth-identification skills proved very useful as some unusual species appeared. Key among these is the Suspected, a species declared extinct by the state in the 2016 Macro-moth Red List. The moth is thriving in this lovely area, if the dozen or so in the various traps offer evidence. Since 2010, there have been records for just 11 10km squares, 1% of Ireland’s 10km squares.

Other local species found were Bordered Sallow, Scarce Silver Y and Barred Rivulet. We found Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, relatively well distributed in the east, but very scarce west of a line from Sligo Town to Wexford Town.

There is one disturbing note. We again failed to find the Garden Tiger moth,  recently common. Has it disappeared from Kildare? If so, it must be lost from many areas. It breeds on common plants, such as Common Nettle, Broad-leaved Dock, Common Dandelion agg. and many other plants. We are not diagnosing a foodplant shortage for its disappearance, but perhaps the quality of the plants and the nature of the adjoining vegetation have altered. The disappearance of a large, colourful, much-loved species is a great concern, especially as it was common until about 2015.

Our post-trap conversations are typically eclectic, warm and humorous, and this was no exception. Thanks to Philip Strickland for organising the event, Dara and Maire for hosting us, and everyone who attended.

Photos copyright J.Harding 2026.

We are having a bizarre year for weather, and this erratic weather might become embedded, becoming the climate. We had extraordinary rainfall in January, February and March, and record heat in May, with the record for that month broken twice by more than 2 °C.  The highest air temperature ever recorded in Ireland in May was 30.6 °C on 26 May, at Shannon Airport. A heat wave was also recorded in June, when maximum temperatures again exceeded 30 °C.  Regarding winter rainfall, Dublin Airport’s February rainfall was 255% above the long-term average and the highest since rainfall records began 84 years ago. February and March temperatures were above average, but January was both wetter and colder than usual.

This meteorological background raises questions about how butterflies respond. Extreme heat in summer is beneficial for the adult and pupal stages and extreme precipitation has been found to damage the pupae (especially) and larvae of single-brooded butterflies (most Irish butterflies (21 out of 35) are single-brooded, i.e., they produce one generation each year).

The single-brooded butterflies are especially sensitive to extremes of heat and cold; the adult is sensitive to extreme cold in summer and extreme heat in winter, while the overwintering stage of single-brooded butterflies is sensitive to extreme heat in winter. It must be noted that single-brooded butterflies overwinter in all four life stages. (The overwintering stage depends on the species, but the larval stage is the most common overwintering stage.) In addition, extreme precipitation during the pupal stage drives negative population change in a number of single-brooded butterflies.

What about our multi-brooded species?

Extreme heat during overwintering and extreme precipitation during first- and second-generation adult life stages are the most frequently occurring extreme variables causing population declines in multivoltine species (67%, 58% and 50% of all multivoltine species affected, respectively). As in single-brooded species, adult and overwintering life stages have opposite population responses to temperature extremes. Extreme heat during the adult life stage (outside winter) is associated with positive population change in 42% of species.

Drought plays a much more important role in multi-brooded species than in single-brooded species. Drought negatively affects 50% of species during their second larval life stage, but has a positive impact on 25% of species during their first ovum life stage.

The study, carried out in the UK, found that multi-brooded butterflies are more sensitive to extreme climate events than single-brooded species, with all life stages, ovum, larvae, pupae, adult and overwintering represented in the nine most important variables in the combined model.

Extreme precipitation during the overwintering stage does not significantly negatively impact multi-brooded species or single-brooded species. This is very good news, because last winter was extremely wet and not extremely warm.

A striking feature of this summer’s butterfly story is the Ringlet population, which, where I look, is the largest I have seen for about 10 years. It had declined in my area of County Meath, with low numbers in what appear to be excellent habitats. Last year, I counted a mere 17 Ringlets on my South Meath transect. On June 25th, I counted 22 Ringlets there during a single visit. It is proving abundant in NE and NW Kildare.  The Meadow Brown, another single-brooded butterfly, is numerous too. Orange-tip, a spring flyer now finished its flight period, was numerous this spring.  Weather/climate is not the only influence on populations, but it is a key framework for species presence and population size.

Despite their sombre appearance, our Ringlet and Meadow Brown populations must not be overlooked, and counting them provides data on how our grasslands are performing and how weather and climate influence the habitats and populations.

We can also look forward to seeing our largest and most glamorous species in July. The first Silver-washed Fritillary of 2026 is due any day, and the first Dark Green Fritillary reported to our recording scheme this year appeared in Portrane, Dublin, on the 25th of June. We await our first Brimstone and Peacock, but the first brood of Commas has already made their appearance; these have so far been the golden form, which breeds immediately after emergence. Later in July, some dark-form Comma butterflies will appear. This form delays breeding until next spring.

The Small Tortoiseshell’s first brood is now flying. These are the children of those who passed the winter as adults and bred in spring. The new generation is behaving like the golden Comma, and is mating and laying eggs. These will produce a second generation that appears in August and September. However, a few Small Tortoiseshells will not breed and will enter an overwintering state, with dark form Commas. This flexibility allows Irish Commas and Small Tortoiseshells to capitalise on good conditions in warm, sunny summers with good rainfall while setting aside some individuals to delay breeding to safeguard against the onset of unsuitable conditions later in summer.

The highly unpredictable weather in Ireland can drive people to distraction. Last winter was dreadful for one’s mood, with miserably wet, dark weather for several weeks. However, our butterflies survived, and some are doing quite well this summer. Their colour gives us something to look forward to and enjoy, while their current abundance highlights their resilience in the face of meteorological adversity.  There’s some comfort in that for us!

But we must be on our guard. Extreme heat during winter is bad news for butterflies. Our climate is predicted to have hotter summers, which is good for butterflies, but warmer winters, which are detrimental. Will the benefits of warmer summers be outweighed by the negative winter effects?

Keep counting our butterflies…

Key Reference

McDermott Long, O. 2017, An investigation into the vulnerability of UK butterflies to extreme climatic events associated with increasing climate change, University of East Anglia.

All Photos copyright J. Harding.

The recent hot, sunny weather makes everything outside look brighter. Winged insects can move with ease, finding it easier to feed, seek mates, lay eggs or move through the landscape. In Britain, and presumably in Ireland, extreme heat is associated with better outcomes for most butterfly species.

In this post, we look at some native wildflowers that bloom in June.

The Bloody Crane’s-bill flowers from May and throughout June, with repeat flowering into the rest of the summer and early autumn. It is used by hoverflies, bees and butterflies, and is easy to grow, though it favours lime-rich, free-draining soils.

The Smooth Hawk’s-beard is common and often abundant on dry grasslands. It reaches up to 1m and has hairless stems and glossy, pinnate leaves. It is among the top 20 flowers in Ireland for supporting high pollinator diversity (see (e) below). It also ranks highly for (a), average abundance of visitors, (b), average species richness of visitors, (c), betweenness centrality (how connected it is in the plant-pollinator network) (d), duration of bloom, (e) and functional complementarity (supporting different insects).

Upright Hedge Parsley looks a little like Cow Parsley but comes into flower later and is a more delicate flower, and often has a pinkish tinge. It occurs beside hedges, often in dry places. It does not appear to be the foodplant for any of our butterflies or macro-moths, but it is a nectar source and is rather elegant. It has been recorded as a larval foodplant for the Southern Swallowtail butterfly, a southern European species.

This fragrant flower is used as a larval foodplant by some beautiful moths, such as Small Elephant Hawkmoth and Hummingbird Hawkmoth and several carpet moths. It likes dry grassland and has a beautifully evocative honey scent. The plant has several medicinal uses and was even used as an alternative to renin to coagulate milk in cheese production. It deserves a place in any wilding project, for its colour, fragrance and overall value for the grassland ecosystem.

This tall, multiflowering biennial or perennial flower is a considerable draw for nectar-feeding invertebrates. Painted Lady butterflies are especially keen on its flowers. This also needs dry situations and can grow in very shallow soil.  In warmer countries, it seems to attract much more attention from butterflies than it does in Ireland, with Six-spot Burnet moths drawn to it, sometimes in their hundreds!

This common flower can be white, pink, purplish, and it varies in height too. It is used for nectar by some butterflies, including the Silver-washed Fritillary and Marsh Fritillary. It occurs in dry grassland and will hybridise with Heath Spotted Orchid. It will appear in gardens that are not treated with fertilisers, and is a sign of undamaged soils. It is used as a foodplant by the Buff Ermine moth.

This tall plant is usually found in wet places, such as wet grassland, fens and river and canal banks. It is a rich source of nectar for many insects.

This fragrant wetland plant with its fragrant, frothy, creamy blooms epitomises summer. The flowers seem more important to bees, but butterflies will use them too. The leaves are eaten by Emperor Moth caterpillars, and by caterpillars of other macro-moths, such as Sweet Gale, Powdered Quaker and Hebrew Character.

Many plants that have finished flowering for the year are very important for pollinators, especially for their immature stages. The flowers of Blackthorn are eagerly used by spring flying moths and butterflies, but their leaves are food for larvae, notably by the Brown Hairstreak butterfly.  About 54 macro moths feed on the plant, including the Brindled Beauty.

The overall message is, go native! These are the plants that feed most of our insects. Many non-natives are poor for pollinators, and some are invasive and damage our environment. Go native!

Key Reference

Russo, L., Fitzpatrick, Ú., Larkin, M., Mullen, S., Power, E., Stanley, D., White, C., O’Rourke, A., &Stout, J. C. (2022). Conserving diversity in Irish plant–pollinator networks. Ecology and Evolution, 12, e9347. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9347