Suffering from butterfly deprivation…empty grasslands… I’ve passed several (Buddleia) on my dog walks, but haven’t seen a single butterfly on any of them…A walk from Potter Heigham to Hickling Broad yesterday, limited butterfly activity…Ringlet seen on a transect walk at Foxley yesterday, very little else recorded apart from a few Speckled Woods…Weather has been unkind to us at our last 2 events the Wheatfen Swallowtail Day and Wild About Mannington. A Swallowtail put in a brief appearance at Wheatfen…
Here are a few comments harvested from social media reporting on butterfly populations in England during June 2024.
My experience in Ireland has been empty nettle beds, wingless skies, thin populations of some of our commonest butterflies and peering at the best habitats in Ireland to pick out a flicker of butterfly colour.
The Burren in late June 2024: masses of flowers, but a shortage of butterflies. Photo: J. Harding.
What’s wrong?
Let’s consider the weather. May 2024 was described as the warmest May on record by the Irish Meteorological Service. This surprised me. I wonder if night-time temperatures played a role in this finding. June, however, was described as cool, dry with the temperature below average nearly everywhere. All available sunshine totals were below their long-term average.
It remains cool in early July, with no upturn in temperatures predicted as I write on 5 July. Today we are looking at temperatures between 14 and 17 Celsius.
Is it just a case of below-par weather?
That’s unlikely.
It is certainly correct that our butterflies are strongly influenced by weather conditions with emergence greatly delayed by prolonged cool conditions. The sunny May and June saw the Silver-washed Fritillary begin to emerge on 21 June. We have not recorded it yet (as of 5 July). No new Brimstone has yet been recorded.
However, there appears to be an issue with our Vanessids: Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Peacock, and Red Admiral. There are very few records of these butterflies this summer, in any life form. Between 16 May and 5 July, we have had four sightings of the Small Tortoiseshell, all singletons. Between 9 May and 5 July, two Commas were seen by Michael Gray on 3 July. We have not had any record of the Peacock since 31 May. Up to 5 July, only 20 Red Admirals have been reported to Butterfly Conservation Ireland’s recording scheme. These species breed on nettles and some parasitoids affect all four species. Has there been a peak in a parasitoid that has reduced populations? Has there been more than one factor impacting the butterflies? The waspPhobocampe confusa for example, parasitises Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Red Admiral and probably the Comma.
Few Small Tortoiseshells were seen in June 2024. It typically produces two broods each year. Has it left it too late to create a second brood in 2024?
The cool conditions cannot delay the emergence of these species indefinitely. When they emerge, we might understand the nature of any impacts on their populations. All these species enjoyed abundance in 2023, especially the Small Tortoiseshell and Comma. Perhaps we are seeing a crash in 2024.
A Marsh Fritillary rests after laying an egg batch at Lullybeg Reserve, County Kildare. Photo: J. Harding
When cool conditions occur during a species flight period, such as during the Marsh Fritillary’s flight period in May and June this year, its flight period can extend later into June and into July, as it has in Lullybeg this year. In 2024 the Marsh Fritillary recorded flight period in Lullybeg has extended from 19 May to 3 July. In 2023, when we had a sunny May and June, the butterfly’s flight period was from 16 May to 22 June. In cool weather, the butterfly rests deep in vegetation waiting for suitable weather. Despite being typically short-lived, the adult Marsh Fritillary can sit out cool weather for two weeks, possibly longer, if needed.
A male Dark Green Fritillary. This species was beginning to emerge in late June in the Burren. In my experience dating back 20 years, it was abundant in the region by then. Photo: J. Harding
Most of our butterflies are adapted to cool weather, but the adults thrive in warmer weather allowing them to feed, disperse, find mates and lay their eggs. Prolonged bad weather damages populations which rebound quickly in years with better weather.
Our Moth Morning hosted by Philip Strickland was a great success. We had over 100 species and still counting. The rain did not deter the moths, because the temperature was high enough to make them active.
The Swallow-tailed moth is one of the larger moths found in Philip’s grounds.
There were several traps set in different parts of Philip’s grounds. Philip is wilding his four-acre site near Maynooth with very encouraging results. The grounds contain a native hedge over 100 metres long, with hawthorn, Common Hazel, Common Holly, Spindle, and Common Blackthorn, among other native plants. His grassland habitat contains native grasses, especially Sweet Vernal grass, and flora such as Common Sorrel, Cuckooflower, Common Knapweed, and buttercup species. This unspoilt grassland teems with Orange-tip and Green-veined White in spring followed by Meadow Brown and Ringlet while shadier spots are the Speckled Wood zones. Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral use his nettles and a closer look might reveal Comma too. Philip’s incipient native woodland which contains Pedunculate Oak of Irish provenance will become an enormous asset to biodiversity as it matures.
Grey Pine Carpet. Photo Philip Strickland.
The grounds are managed in sympathy with nature. No chemicals are applied, and native plants are central to everything Philip is doing. The basic infrastructure of indigenous plants already in situ is being built upon by adding more and gradually removing non-native trees put there by the previous owners.
The results revealed by the moth count on Saturday 29 June underscore the importance of the native planting not only in the 109-plus species found but in the abundance of individuals and the range of habitats and breeding requirements represented. Tree-breeding species, grassland and scrubland breeders were present.
An indication of the variety of moths on offer…
As I write, the micro-moths are still being identified which will push the total up. The colours, shapes and textures offered all of us great pleasure. Green, yellow, red, black, brown, white and various shades and combinations of these hues tantalised and delighted. It is reassuring in an epoch of mass extinction to witness high abundance. Hopeful too, for optimism is needed. Everything cannot be bleak. The simple measures Philip adopted afford vital resources to hard-pressed animals in an intensively farmed region but also pleasure and inspiration.
The Lychnis, which breeds on campions is a scarce moth in Ireland.Green Arches is a locally common moth in Ireland.
We viewed the moths under cover from the rain which made for comfort and greater attention. The bigger beasts on view included the Elephant Hawkmoth, Swallow-tailed Moth, Light Emerald, the Green, Light and Dark Arches and the Large Yellow Underwing. The medium-sized moths were in great abundance: Clouded Brindle, some quite fresh, Common Emerald, Common White Wave, the descriptively named Spectacle and Dark Spectacle, the sharply-dressed Cinnabar, elegantly gowned White Ermine and its less showy cousin, the Buff Ermine were all in attendance. The Straw Dot, a grassland breeder which hates nitrogen fertiliser, showed in high numbers. What a treat.
Sharp-dressed man! A lovely Cinnabar.
The excitement did not end there. Philip laid on a wonderful refreshment for us in his home. Conversation, frequently contentious and animated, flowed. Mothing is about people too!
Sallow Kitten, another scarce moth we managed to see.
On behalf of Butterfly Conservation Ireland, thank you Philip for allowing us to hold our event at your home. Thanks to everyone who made the morning so enjoyable. The experience was a real pleasure. Our only regret is that it was not much better supported.
Moths come in a range of shapes and sizes: a Pinion-streaked Snout.
All photos J. Harding except where stated otherwise.
On 24 November 2020, the cabinet approved €108 for Bord an Móna’s peatland restoration project. The scheme covers an area of approximately 33,000 hectares of Bord Na Móna peatlands previously harvested for peat extraction for electricity generation. The details can be seen here: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/136a7-bord-na-mona-bog-rehabilitation-scheme/
Shortly after the Government announcement, Bord na Móna announced an end to all peat harvesting on its estate of c.80,000 hectares. The details can be seen here:
Some peatland rehabilitation schemes have been undertaken under the government-funded peatland re-wetting scheme. In many bogs, this involves re-wetting the remaining peat by blocking drains and bunding, which sometimes involves using peat to form a dam to hold water. The objective is that the rewet peat supports the development of sphagnum mosses which help to retain carbon in the peat and absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Thus, fully functioning peatlands retain and absorb carbon dioxide, a key global heating gas. Damaged peatlands emit carbon dioxide; these drained peatlands are sources of carbon dioxide pollution.
Alongside the climate action benefits of peatland restoration are biodiversity (protecting wildlife) and ecosystem services (like flood and pollution control). Many specialist plants and animals rely on peatlands. Some Lepidoptera that thrive on peatlands are the Marsh Fritillary, Large Heath and Green Hairstreak butterflies and the Emperor, Dark Tussock and Oak Eggar moths. Peatlands hold rare birds like Hen Harrier, Merlin, Red Grouse and Curlew. The extremely rare endemic fungus Entoloma jennyi was discovered in a bog near Oughterard in Galway. This bog (not owned by Bord na Móna) is still being destroyed, despite being part of a Special Area of Conservation.
Even on the state-owned Bord na Móna bogs, peat extraction continues. While Bord na Móna has ceased harvesting peat, it still extracts peat. Peat is drained and removed to build wind and solar farm infrastructure, so it is important not to feel comfortable using electricity generated by wind and solar. Where partly privately owned, Bord na Móna bogs are damaged by continuing drainage and cutting. One example is North Timahoe Bog in Kildare, where a fine remnant raised bog is being damaged by a private owner who continues to bulldoze and extract peat to burn. The irony is that Bord na Móna has plans to rewet the area in its ownership but this is being compromised by ongoing drainage and peat removal. You are not being told the full story by most of the media. You can see the photos of the damage done below.
Bulldozing a thousand years of heritage, biodiversity and stored carbon, North Timahoe Bog, County Kildare.The ugly face of the ravaged peatland.A thousand years of peatland was removed in minutes.No more raised bog…just a sick carbon-emitting mess.
Images of the beauty being obliterated follow.
Bog Asphodel.Cross-leaved Heath, a foodplant of the Green Hairstreak butterfly.Magic mosses: sphagnum mosses that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere need the water table close to or above the bog surface.Bog Rosemary, a wet bog specialist.The Marsh Fritillary breeds on some heaths and grassy bogs.
The European Commission is taking Ireland to court over its failure to protect the bogs designated as Special Areas of Conservation (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1232). Ireland is failing to protect the bogs the country is committed to protect. This does not include undesignated sites in private ownership where peat cutting can continue. The benefits of re-wetting are potentially significant. A UN report (Global Peatlands Assessment: The State of the World’s Peatlands, 2022 ) states that drained peatlands represent only 3% of the EU’s agricultural land and rewetting them would avoid up to 25% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
Yet peat cutting continues, often with political support. The excuses quoted include other countries doing it and people needing to stay warm over the winter. Bad behaviour should not be our example. Peat is not cut to stop people freezing to death in winter. It is machine-cut to make money.
Butterfly Conservation Ireland does not like to bring you bad news. But the truth must be told.
The cool, windy sunny conditions we have seen during early June continued during our Mornington walk. The dunes are home to wonderfully flower-rich grassland where Skylarks are conspicuous by sight and sound, contributing their tune to wind and wave song. Strolling here amid the glories of the dune grasses reminds me how bland Ireland’s general landscape has become, despoiled and impoverished by the ravages of modern agriculture. The extreme east of Meath contains the county’s best semi-natural grassland habitats but even here threats are extending: montbretia, sycamore and Sea Buckthorn are all biological menaces, their alien invasive presence intruding onto this slice of remnant richness.
Small Blue breeding habitat in Mornington, Co. Meath.
The scents of the flora and wild grasses recall childhoods for today’s over 40s. Few younger adults and children have these biological or memory baselines, a factor that will influence future perceptions of what Ireland’s land ought to look like. That’s one reason why maintenance of the good remaining patches is vital. We need biodiverse areas as a benchmark for restoration schemes for biological resources and exemplars to support action.
Mother Shipton moth on montbretia, Mornington.
After uprooting most of the montbretia in one patch adjoining the parking area, we set out to seek nature. Scarily few Small Blues were evident. Their breeding habitat is in excellent condition, so why were there so few? A clue might lie in the condition of those we did see, all perfect, newly hatched. Perhaps we are seeing just the beginning of its flight period in this area. Many Common Blues showed wear and tear indicative of some days on the wing.
Small Blue female in Mornington. It is a tiny insect, easily missed. Recent survey work shows its presence in nearly 10% of Ireland’s 10km squares but many colonies occupy small areas and contain few individual butterflies.
Small Heaths were active, males fighting for control of the breeding ground. Two were fighting like two male Speckled Woods who believe a patch is their property, circling each other in tight circles of fury, with neither giving way. This is typical of the behaviour of male Small Heaths I have seen elsewhere. According to Thomas and Lewington (2014), larger-winged males tend to win, so smaller males are pushed away from favoured mating sites, diminishing their chances of mating success. The same source states that males are less likely to be territorial during hot weather when they favour search flights rather than settling on the ground to await females.
We saw no Cinnabar moths, again suggesting that it is yet to emerge in Mornington. We saw a beautiful Yellow Shell moth, its golden shell-marked wings appropriate for a coastal habitat. A Mother Shipton moth was also recorded. A couple of fast-moving Ruby Tiger moth caterpillars were spotted too, one on the soil, the other on ragwort. Both wriggled off at speed when disturbed.
Common Blues were not numerous but striking, typically the large examples found in Ireland. A single female was seen, with brown uppersides. Those in the west and parts of the midlands are blue or contain blue with brown scales on their upper surfaces. The colour differences might relate to climatic conditions, with bluer females associated with cooler, cloudier, damper situations away from the east coast.
It was a pleasant event, and the lovely newlyweds who attended were great company. We wish them every success in the years ahead.
June Bank Holiday weekend is synonymous with the beginning of the Irish summer, imminent holidays, strawberries and cream, and Bord Bia’s Bloom festival, featuring 2024 21 show gardens. Laura Douglas, Head of Bord Bia Bloom & Brand Partnerships penned the welcome in the Show Garden Guide, mentioning as key themes living in ‘greater harmony with nature,’ protecting ‘wildlife and the environment in our gardens’ and providing spaces that offer wellbeing benefits. Kerrie Gardiner, the event content manager, mentions biodiversity and protecting the local landscape.
Ashtown Castle, Phoenix Park, the Bloom venue.
To test the claims about gardens protecting biodiversity, I applied the Russo Test. This is my name for the 2022 study (Laura Russo is the corresponding author) that examined Irish plant-pollinator networks. The study, Conserving diversity in Irish plant-pollinator Networks discovered that 35 plants are of the greatest importance for pollinators.
The scientists collated data from six studies in Ireland where obligate (necessary) flower-visiting insects (specifically butterflies/moths, bees, and hoverflies) were observed/collected while foraging on flowers from May through August in 2009–2011 and 2017 and April through October in 2018. Transect surveys were made for this study.
What does the study reveal? The study analysed flower-visitor interactions between 239 flowering plant species and 148 insect visitor species in Ireland. The composition of the insect visitor species observed was: 54.7% hoverflies (Syrphidae), 30.7% bees (Anthophila), and 14.6% butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera). However, bees dominated in abundance on flowers (61% bee, 35% hoverfly, and 4% butterfly or moth visits), like in other published studies.
The Marsh Fritillary must have a species-rich sward for its survival.
The thirty-five plant species in the Irish plant-pollinator network that rank in the top ten of the different measures (visitation rate (a), average abundance of visitors (weighted degree, (b)), average species richness of visitors (unweighted degree, (c)), betweenness centrality (d), duration of bloom, (e) and functional complementarity (supporting different insects) (f)) ranked from highest (top) to lowest (bottom) under (e) are:
I tested each of the 21 show gardens against this list.
What did I find at Bloom?
A mere nine of these 35 plants were represented in the 21 show gardens.
Those recorded and the number of gardens they appeared in were:
Red Clover (3), Creeping Buttercup (1), Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil (2), Common Daisy (2),
Ribwort Plantain (1), White Clover (2), Field Buttercup (4), Dandelion (1), Box (1-2).
This is pathetic. The cant about pollinators and acting for them and biodiversity generally is mostly unsupported by Bloom’s gardens. There were few bees on show and zero butterflies, despite the warm sunshine. The vacuity of this window dressing was reinforced by the literature being handed out showing important plants for pollinators. So, it’s not that nobody knows what’s needed.
One garden, entitled Rewild, styled itself as a space that incorporates traditional high-intensity management and moves towards a ‘wilder, more natural space’ to mark ‘the shift towards embracing biodiversity and creating a space where people live in harmony with nature.’ ‘Pollinator-friendly plants and habitat structures invite insects and birds into the garden.’ The garden was certainly attractive, but bug hotel aside, there wasn’t much for pollinators there. There appears to be an obsession in most of Bloom’s gardens with cultivars of Brook Thistle Cirsium rivulare. The unadulterated plant is native to damp areas in East France and Southern Germany. Don’t bother with it. Grow our lovely native wetland thistle, Meadow Thistle Cirsium dissectum instead. I have watched Orange-tip, Marsh Fritillary and Dark Green Fritillary enjoying its nectar, along with bumble bees.
Annoying and ironic was the In Perspective Garden by the European Commission. The booklet introduces its theme thus:
This European Commission garden articulates the values of the EU Green Deal which seeks to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.
EU Commission garden.
This initiative includes protecting our biodiversity and ecosystems and one of its actions is the Biodiversity strategy for 2030. The strategy aims to put Europe’s biodiversity on a path to recovery by 2030 and contains specific actions and commitments. These include the EU Nature Restoration Law and enlarging protected areas. One of the targets of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 is to legally protect and effectively manage a minimum of 30% of EU land by 2030.
I saw scant evidence in the plants used of a thematic link between this garden and nature restoration or biodiversity protection. I saw two herbs and one grass species in this garden native to Ireland: Wild Valerian, Red Campion and Wood Brome. Without native plants, biodiversity stands little chance of survival, let alone recovery. Our native butterflies, moths, and invertebrates generally rely on native plants for their life cycles. The European Commission should know better.
Brigid 1500 Commemorative Garden.
Two gardens deserve a mention for biodiversity protection. The garden with the most native flowers was the Brigid 1500 Commemorative Garden. I counted six native trees, one native shrub and seven native flowers: Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil, Cowslip, Common Daisy, Red Clover, Ribwort Plantain, dandelion and Meadow Buttercup.
Nourishing Dairy From the Ground Up.
The other garden that had a meaningful link with biodiversity was Nourishing Dairy-From the Ground Up by Tunde Perry sponsored by the National Dairy Council. The text describing this garden lacks the pretentious verbiage typical of many ‘compositions.’ The text describes what is there, and the garden encompassed the stated elements: ‘grass meadow, multispecies sward and Irish native trees, shrubs and hedgerows.’ This sward held Meadow Buttercup, Red Clover, Ox-eye Daisy, Yellow Rattle, Cowslips, Ragged Robin and Foxgloves. The shrubs included Common Hazel. This is the only garden where I saw a Lepidopteran, a Grass Rivulet moth laying eggs on Yellow Rattle, on the capsule holding the seeds.
Nourishing Garden From The Ground UP sward.
Supporting Sick Children
One garden, Children’s Heath Foundation Garden of Music and Play designed by Declan McKenna listed the 31 plants used in the garden. It contains zero native plants and only one that is outstanding for butterflies, Verbena bonariensis. Providing a welcoming space for children in the new Children’s Hospital’s four acres of green space and 14 gardens and internal courtyards, mentioned in the leaflet provided, would benefit tremendously from native plants. Water Mint Mentha aquatica, Corn Mint Mentha arvensis, Wild Thyme Thymus polytrichus, Common Marjoram Origanum vulgare and Bog Myrtle Myrica gale (all native) have attractive aromatic leaves and blooms, providing children with visual, tactile, olfactory experiences as well as drawing in masses of pollinators. Add showy natives Common Knapweed Centurea nigra, Greater Knapweed Centaurea scabiosa, Devil’s-bit Scabious Succisa pratensis, Wild Teasel Dipsacus fullonum for structure, colour and clouds of hoverflies, bees, butterflies and moths and the benefits for children’s wellbeing, and their families, are hugely enhanced. Set a moth trap in the National Children’s Hospital native gardens twice a week from March to October for more well-being. Children and parents can take photos of the colourful butterflies visiting the plants. Plant some brassicas to attract Large White and Small White butterflies to breed in the hospital gardens, to show butterfly life cycles in action. Children could save seeds from some of the flowering plants to grow in pots at home, giving them more to look forward to. More imagination applied by the Children’s Health Foundation would greatly assist in the therapeutic journey travelled by children and their stressed parents.
Bloom is visited by tens of thousands of well-meaning gardeners every year. Another chance to evangelise about biodiversity, to demonstrate biodiversity. ‘Yet to meet expectations’ is a benign way of saying Bloom overall didn’t achieve the description stated in the Guide. The plants on show, overwhelmingly non-native, simply deceive people about the ecological relationship between plants and animals. Go native.
Photos J. Harding
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
A key challenge involved in organising outdoor events in Ireland is the weather. It is often said that in Ireland we don’t have a climate, we have weather. If it rains, you cannot hold a biodiversity event looking for moths and butterflies outside. You cannot have a butterfly walk without butterflies unless one can conjure them into being for the nature lovers attending the walks. The weather forecast for Saturday did not inspire confidence, only apprehension. A great suspicion arises when you see wall-to-wall sunshine and clear blue skies in Ireland at 7 am. It is typically a cruel trick to lull you into optimism.
By 9 am it had clouded over and at 9:30 am my windscreen showed a spray of rain. Amazingly, it got better after that. When I arrived at our meeting point, four people were already there and another 11 appeared before 10 am, so my confidence in the weather obliging us increased. We even saw sunshine, occasionally, and that was enough to bring butterflies, moths and the region’s legion of dragonflies into the air.
It is reassuring to see the expected species. Our outing was treated to plenty of Marsh Fritillaries, in Lullybeg, none in Lullymore. The butterfly appears to have vacated Lullymore West, although we did find a single pupa.* Before alarm bells ring, the Marsh Fritillary is famous for moving around a landscape, with colonies thriving in one area for some time and then moving elsewhere within a region. The habitat in Lullymore West remains suitable, but some attention is needed to prevent the increase in rank grass becoming a major survival challenge. That underlines the need for landscape-scale protection and management for the Marsh Fritillary.
Marsh Fritillary pupa in Lullymore. Photo J. Harding
Our walk had the benefit of sharp-eyed children, who, having keener eyes closer to the ground, are better adapted to spot insect life! That’s my excuse anyway!
Meeting children aged four to eight who know far more about nature than I did then is inspiring and reassuring; there is hope for the future. The energy the children brought to our event and their wonder helped make the hard graft of conservation work worth the effort. One child opined that the underside of the Marsh Fritillary is nicer than the upperside. She was excellent at catching the butterfly and gingerly holding it by the thorax, which avoids hurting the butterfly. At her age, many are the poor butterfly seized by whichever body part my greedy fingers grasped!
Marsh Fritillary male on Lullybeg Reserve. Photo J. Harding.Marsh Fritillary aberrant male underside, Lullybeg corridor, Co. Kildare. Photo J. Harding.Marsh Fritillary aberrant male upperside, Lullybeg, Co. Kildare. Photo J. Harding.
One child required caterpillars. I was glad the Brimstone larvae were available on the two buckthorn species in Lullybeg. These were all very small, smaller than they were this time last year.
Brimstone caterpillar on Alder Buckthorn, Lullybeg. Photo J. Harding.Brimstone caterpillar on Purging Buckthorn, Lullybeg. Photo J. Harding.
Frogs were common enough to add excitement. We also encountered a couple of Song Thrush anvils, hard ground or branches on which snail shells were broken to obtain their succulent contents. We netted Four-spotted Chaser and Hairy Dragonflies. I was bitten by both species, understandably. No dragonfly wants to be handled by a human. Plenty of blue damselflies glided about, glowing in the bright light. One of them fell victim to a Four-spotted Chaser.
Dingy Skipper, Cryptic Wood White, Green-veined White, Orange-tip, Small Copper, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Marsh Fritillary and Speckled Wood were ticked off, while Narrow-bordered Bee Hawkmoth (surely designed to impress anyone who sees it), Burnet Companion, Angle Shades and Silver Y were among the moths registered. We did not manage a Small Purple-barred moth, but it was probably not sunny for long enough to coax it to fly.
Dingy Skipper male, Lullybeg Reserve. Photo J. Harding.
Overall, it was a wonderful day out. Our three German visitors enjoyed the event, and it is always great to have a chance to showcase the best of what Ireland’s biodiverse landscapes have to offer to our overseas visitors and natives alike. Biodiversity continues to boom in the Ballydermot region. Long may it be so.
*Since this post was published, we have been informed by the Irish Peatlands Conservation Council, which owns and carefully manages the reserve in Lullymore West, that the Marsh Fritillary has been recorded on the reserve in the past two weeks while carrying out their transect walks for the Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme.
When selecting sites for spring butterfly walks in the Burren one is not necessarily spoiled for choice, despite the presence of the highest quality habitats across the region. Large areas of the Burren are designated as Special Areas of Conservation, especially for orchid-rich grassland (known as Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies on calcareous substrates (Festuco-Brometalia) (important orchid sites) [6210]). This habitat is excellent for butterflies when well-managed, sheltered and south-facing. However, much of the area is exposed to the wind and contains insufficient scrub to provide the habitat conditions needed by spring butterflies and moths.
During the summer the more exposed grasslands are rich in grassland butterfly species, but spring butterflies need shelter. The east Burren is better for spring butterflies than the west, where there is less shelter. The sites we visited as part of the Burrenbeo/Butterfly Conservation Ireland Burren in Bloom Festival events, Fahee North near Carran Turlough and Clooncoose Valley west of the Burren National Park tick the required boxes.
Saturday promised us sunshine and light breezes. It gave us a grey sky and a light but chilling wind. This failed to cast a pall over our outing, well supported by enthusiastic lovers of the Burren. Moths trapped the night before were shown. The selection of spring moths was appreciated, especially the impressive Poplar Hawkmoth that loyally perched on one of the ladies where he remained for the entire walk.
Bloody Cranesbill, Fahee North. Photo J.Harding.
We walked through the open scrub on limestone immediately south of the holy well, searching carefully for signs of Lepidoptera life. The ecological needs of the Pearl-bordered Fritillary were described; its larva needs direct sunlight and shading scrub, abundant lush violets growing in dry conditions that contain fresh tender growth, dry leaf litter among the violets and nectar sources for the adult butterfly. This is a high-maintenance butterfly. Only the Burren meets its needs.
Pearl-bordered Fritillary underside, Fahee North. Photo J. Harding.
We enjoyed the Burren plants which included super fragrant Burnet Rose, deep yellow Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil and aptly named Early Purple Orchids. Toward the end of the walk, we managed to spot a couple of Dingy Skippers (the Burren holds a pale, limestone-adapted subspecies of this butterfly) and Burnet Companion moths and finally, a lovely male Pearl-bordered Fritillary, netted and placed in a jar for all to admire his underside pearls and lovely deep orange uppersides decorated with a range of black markings. Just as we exited the site a Wood White was spotted, a lovely female showing her greenish hindwing underside, a feature of Irish Wood Whites; in Britain and Europe, the green is replaced with grey.
Wood White female, Fahee North. Photo J. Harding.
The group was so kind and appreciative it is a pity the weather did not allow us to see more, but Sunday delivered.
Sunday 19 May was sunny and warm with little wind. This event was also very well attended. We began by showing moths trapped the night before at Parknabinnia, near the roadside wedge tomb. This allowed us to see strictly nocturnal species. A Shears moth Hada plebeja was shown; this was a very well-marked example clearly illustrating the shear marking on the forewing. Muslin moths Diaphora mendica and White Ermines Spilosoma lubricipeda were shown. The Irish male Muslin moth is cream with scattered black spots while in Britain the males are grey or brown, and do not look like the same species. Other species were shown too, including a ‘May Bug’, the Common Cockchafer, a large, impressive beetle that is attracted to light. They are known in Britain as doodlebugs and because of their buzzing flight, they gave their name to the V1 rockets from the Second World War.
The Shears. Photo J. Harding.Early Purple Orchid, Clooncoose. Photo J. Harding.
Clooncoose Valley is impressive, giving wonderful views of the landscape to the south, with cliffs, rugged hills, plains and wetlands, with limestone grassland, scrub, woodland, and bare limestone pavement encountered from the Green Road that makes the vistas accessible to walkers. This Green Road is bounded by classic Burren dry stone walls and in places by hazel scrub, sheltering this wildlife corridor from the wind.
Clooncoose Valley, 19 May 2024. J. HardingClooncoose Valley, 16 August 2016. This photograph and the photograph above were taken from the same place in May and August, showing the changes in the light and vegetation colour as the seasons change. Photos J. Harding.
Butterflies, moths, dragonflies and other creatures use the Green Road to move through the landscape, to seek mates, food and shelter. The Green Road contains good feeding resources and breeding habitats in places, so butterflies linger here. We didn’t have long to wait before meeting Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Wood White and Dingy Skipper butterflies and several Hairy Dragonflies. These were netted, jarred and passed around so everyone got to see these lovely animals. Later, a Speckled Yellow moth, a beautiful day-flyer was caught and passed for admiration. A Small Heath butterfly was netted. He was freshly emerged, showing rich chestnut uppersides.
Pearl-bordered Fritillary male, Clooncoose Valley 19 May 2024. This butterfly’s discovery in Ireland was in Clooncoose in June 1922. Photo J. Harding.
Our turning point was the cottage (the only building in the area) adjoining the marsh where Large White, Green-veined Whites, Orange-tips and damselflies were spotted. We also saw a freshly hatched Common Blue gleaming iridescently in the glorious sunshine. Indeed, it was a day of brightness, happiness, beauty and sunshine, and I hope that everyone went home happy. I know I did.
Green-veined White subspecies Britannica from the marsh in Clooncoose. The subspecies is named for the rich cream or yellow uppersides which are usually white. Although regarded as a subspecies, it is probably a colour form rather than a subspecies. A subspecies occupies a distinct geographical region separate from other populations of the same species, and having constant and different traits. Such populations cannot overlap; in Clooncoose, however, females with white uppersides also flew. Photo J. Harding.Dove’s-foot Cranesbill, Geranium molle at Clooncoose. Photo J.Harding.Cinnabar moth, Clooncoose. Photo J. Harding.
Thanks to everyone who attended and made the day special. Sharing beauty and observation enhances the aesthetic experience and the appreciation of the wonders of the Burren. Thanks to Burrenbeo which joined Butterfly Conservation Ireland to organise the weekend’s events.
During a pre-walk reconnaissance in Clooncoose, a confiding vixen came out to meet me. Photo J.Harding.
The misery of our weather since late June 2023 has sharpened our desire for better. We are struggling to see a large number of any butterfly except for the Holly Blue, the only Irish butterfly that is showing abundance this spring. This stunning little butterfly is currently occupying the streets in Dublin City, so impressive is its upward trajectory.
Warmth is the Holly Blue’s friend. City centres offer this heat and the amount of holly and ivy in warm urban settings is ideal for the butterfly. Add secondary foodplants like dogwood and escallonia to the menu and the Holly Blue is happy.
Most of our butterflies need wilder places. There is nowhere better in the midlands east of the Shannon than the bogs in northwest Kildare and east Offaly, known as the Ballydermot Bog group (includes Lodge Bog, Lullymore, Lullybeg and other bogs), an area Butterfly Conservation Ireland and other organisations propose as a national park. And a stroll in good weather tells you why.
The complex habitat conditions provide a home for a vast range of animals. The area contains dry and very wet conditions, acid, neutral and alkaline soils, climax woodland, scrub, open grassland, bog, pools, lakes, rivers, swamps, reed beds, fens, and eskers often in intimate proximity.
The diverse landscape produces enormous biodiversity. But it is not just the range of life that impresses. The mass abundance is often breathtaking. At the right time of year, the profusion of flying insects in the air can be confusing but the copiousness creates excitement. Systematic counting becomes impossible. Estimates are essential. It can be impossible to separate species when species that appear similar in flight are met in massive amounts. It is impossible to separate the dancer and the dance.
That last Yeatsian statement is especially germane regarding animal life. The massive abundance is inseparable from the landscape of scale that maintains it. Such bounty must be nurtured and defended because it is rare in today’s Ireland. Scarcity highlights abundance. Blandness emphasises ebullience. The Ballydermot Bog Group’s biodiversity underscores the bleakness and emptiness of the general landscape. Polluted, over-farmed, modified and gardened to its fingernails, modern Ireland offers so little compared with contemporary remnants that are redolent of past glories.
Broom brightens the boggy landscape in spring. J. Harding.
Restoration can be great but preservation is much greater. Better to retain our best rather than fix what is broken. Some broken things are irreparable.
Sauntering through Lullymore and Lullybeg on 15 May, in sunny weather punctuated by occasional overcast conditions was a slice of perfection. Nature must be encountered using every sense. We overuse our eyes. Touch, taste, smell and hearing should be commandeered to apply the multi-sensory approach.
The Hairy Dragonfly, superb on the wing and beautiful when seen close up, demands we use our hearing, touch and sight to understand its characteristics.
Hairy Dragonfly male, Lullymore. J. Harding.Hairy Dragonfly, female, Lullybeg. J.Harding.
This is the earliest of our larger dragonflies to emerge and is thriving in many areas. It is better distributed and more abundant in Ireland than in Britain. It looks magnificent in flight, zooming purposefully in linear flight, looking like an Exocet missile locking onto a target. When the weather cools, it settles but on being approached, rattles its wings loudly and perhaps disconcertingly to a predator. When it has transferred sufficient heat to its flight muscles, it vanishes.
The Hairy Dragonfly packs a punch or rather a bite. Catch one and you will soon be bitten. While this is quite a shock and uncomfortable rather than painful to a human, its jaws slice through its prey. In one location in Lullymore, this dragonfly killed five Brimstone butterflies in a few minutes, catching them in the air and slicing their heads off. Decapitation is a clinical and effective way to dispatch a large butterfly. This quarry is then brought to a tree for dining.
The Hairy Dragonfly is joined en masse by the Four-spotted Chaser, a smaller but more robust-looking dragonfly. This dragonfly takes two years to develop and although it flies every year it is far more numerous in some years. At Lullybeg there are years when there are swarms of this insect. It becomes so numerous that male territories collapse. It flies from April to August and must be a great source of food for birds.
Attune your vision to miniature neon lights and you will pick out the blue damselflies: Azure, Common Blue, Variable and Blue-tailed Damselflies. They were marked present yesterday, gleaming around low shrubs and tall grasses, evoking a blue light district. There were hundreds; I didn’t try to count.
Variable Damselfly, Lullybeg. J.Harding.
And so to the Lepidoptera. The area is one of only three Important Butterfly Areas (IBAs) in Ireland. The other two are the Burren and the headquarters of the River Suck.
Yesterday (15 May) it was the moths that dominated numerically. Silver Y is a resident and migrant moth, and it was everywhere, darting in and out of grass clumps, like a cyclist weaving around stationary cars on a busy highway. Despite the conspicuous buzzing flight it vanishes on landing, blending with rather than burying itself in the bleached tussocks of last year’s grass growth.
Silver Y, Lullymore. J.Harding.
The Silver Y moths I saw were pale grey, indicating overseas origin. The paler form, seen here, typically originates in a hot climate. We could be looking at an African moth here.
Another moth that is both a resident and migrant, Angle Shades, was also buzzing around Ballydermot on 15 May. This moth is mainly nocturnal but can be seen in daylight resting on vegetation. Like the Silver Y, it breeds on a wide range of plants including Common Nettle and birches. There is plenty of food for it in the area.
Angle Shades, Lullymore. J.Harding.
By contrast, the Silver Hook is a localised, resident moth. This beautifully marked moth occurs in fens, marshes and boggy heathland so it finds good ground in Ballydermot. It is mainly nocturnal but flies by day when disturbed. It breeds on grasses and sedges.
Silver-Hook-Lullybeg. J.Harding.
An intriguing day-flying moth is the bee mimic, the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawkmoth. Another resident, this occurs only locally in wet grassland, on dry calcareous grassland and boggy places containing its breeding plant, Devil’s-bit Scabious. This buzzes like a bee, flies like a bee, feeds like a bee, looks like a bee… but has no sting. It is a moth, and the adult loves louseworts and milkworts.
Narrow-bordered-Bee-Hawkmoth-Lullymore. This one is basking. J. Harding.
Butterflies that are locally distributed in Ireland have a stronghold here. The Brimstone, which is absent from most of Ireland (absent from 80%) is common and often abundant in the Ballydermot region. I saw 14 Brimstones on 15 May, looking daffodil yellow (male) and pale greenish-white (female) in the pure spring sunlight. After spending nine months in hibernation, they do not look their best but still flung their brightness on the still brightening habitat.
Brimstone, male, Lullybeg. The upperside of his wings is deep yellow. J. Harding.
Another local butterfly, absent from 84% of Ireland’s 10 km squares is the Dingy Skipper. Small and unglamorous, it has a cultish charm for butterfly lovers, looking like a childhood teddy bear recovered from an attic years later. It has a cuddly appearance, and needs care, being found only in small patches of suitable habitat in most of its recorded distribution. While it breeds on a widespread foodplant, its habitat requirements are quite precise, and it is common in Ireland only in the Burren.
Dingy Skipper, Lullybeg. J.Harding.
To complete this post, I am showing you the Cryptic Wood White butterfly. It looks delicate and fragile on the wing, flying with what looks like a tremendous effort but it can stay airborne for prolonged periods, flapping along wood and scrub edges. Absent from Britain, its discovery, using genetic analysis, was announced in 2011. Until then it was believed to be a different species, the Wood White, a butterfly confined in Ireland mainly to the Burren and a few outlying limestone areas in south Clare and Galway.
Cryptic Wood White, Lullymore. J. Harding.
This dainty creature is quite widespread in Ireland but breeds only in wilder places. Long live the wild and wilderness!
And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things.
Extract from “Tintern Abbey” by William Wordsworth (1798)
Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting
the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798
Nature inspires everyone at some time in our lives. Perhaps it is the dawn chorus, the increasing day length in a dark, dank January, the first snowdrop, the first Swallow, the first Orange-tip butterfly seen after a long, wet winter. This spring butterfly inspired Butterfly Conservation Ireland member Felicity Laws to craft the following verse. Based in West Cork, Felicity watches the changing seasons bring nature’s beauty to focus. Joy is often elevated by long absence, a sensation Felicity captures in her verse.
Enjoy.
CRAVING
A creeping, insidious longing
As the sun rises higher each day
Every brightening moment might reveal
A butterfly/damselfly/dragonfly
In all its shimmering glory.
Frissons of fear and love
Bubbling like quality champagne
As I try to extend the moment
A flutter catches my eye:
Will there be an identifying view?
Smooth slide for a photograph?
Will it bask? will it dematerialise
As if it had never been?
Whichever way it goes
The craving is slightly assuaged
Enough that ‘it’ exists
Whether or not I know
What ‘it’ is; fear dispatched,
Only love remains.
At the next exciting air tremble
Another opportunity or ten
Never too many!
And so on, a summer addiction,
Winter rehab flown with the first
Chitinous flicker of unfeathered wings
Magical natural beauty.
20 April 2024 gave us the first good weather day this spring. The forecast is for the sunny weather to extend into the middle of next week at least. Several Small Tortoiseshells that entered my house to overwinter only for the central heating to disrupt their sleep, a late Peacock I caught in my garden and a late Comma from a nearby lane were overwintered in two sealed plastic containers. How many survived? There were around 20 butterflies. All but five survived, presumably higher than would in the wild.
See the release here:
If you have kept any butterfly or moth indoors, now is the time to let it go. Please check sheds, outbuildings and unused rooms for trapped butterflies.
