Records

Send your butterfly and moth records to us by email to: conservation.butterfly@gmail.com.

Let us know:

your first name/s, and surname/s

your contact details (typically an email address)

date of find,

species found,

the life stage/s found,

numbers seen,

location the butterfly/moth was found (e.g. site name, townland name, county),

six-figure grid reference, including the letter identifying the 100,000-metre grid square in which the location lies (see http://www.gridreference.ie/ or Discovery Series maps)

weather conditions

and any other interesting comments you wish to provide.

Example:

John Smith (14/06/2020)

Small White 2, Small Copper 1, Small Blue 14, Small Heath 15 on dunes at O 254 515, Portrane, County Dublin. Sunny, light breeze, 18 Celsius.

It will be greatly appreciated if recorders send in their records by listing the butterflies observed in the following order:

Small Skipper, Essex Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Common Swallowtail, Wood White, Cryptic Wood White, Clouded Yellow, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Orange-tip, Green Hairstreak, Brown Hairstreak, Purple Hairstreak, Small Copper, Small Blue, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Dark Green Fritillary, Silver-washed Fritillary, Marsh Fritillary, Speckled Wood, Wall Brown, Grayling, Hedge Brown/Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small Heath, Large Heath, Monarch.

Records Policy

Butterfly Conservation Ireland may publish the details you send on this website unless you ask us not to reveal the record. Sensitive records may be published without grid references included.  The records will be stored and used to monitor range and distribution trends and to raise conservation concerns. The records on this website for 2017-2021 were used to compile An Atlas of Butterflies in Ireland 2010-2021, published by the National Biodiversity Data Centre in 2025.