Butterfly and Moth Update - 11th May

3 more species have been seen for the first time in 2010 in Northern Ireland this month to add to the total of 10 species recorded up to the end of April.

When in Co. Fermanagh (the most westerly county in Northern Ireland and the only one to have Dingy Skipper) on Monday 10th May 2010 I stopped at 2 known roadside colonies of Dingy Skipper, at both of which it was seen in 2009. There were at least 3, possibly 4, Dingy Skippers in fine condition at Kinarla near Enniskillen (the 4th one may have been a Burnet Companion moth though no definite ones were seen at the site today though they do occur regularly there); one Dingy Skipper seen closely had plenty of white and may have been a female. This was despite only a brief period of sunshine, a cool NW wind (though there is some shelter given by the steep south facing bank) and a temperature measured with a fairly accurate digital thermometer varying between 10 and 12 deg. C. At Bowara, a few miles away, the sun was rather warmer and there is better shelter here, so butterflies were quite active during the short period of my visit around lunchtime, and about 6-8 Dingy Skippers were seen, with 1 or 2 dark specimens seen closely porobably being males; there were probably about 8 Burnet Companion moths, which look fairly similar but have orange hindwings.
The 2 other firsts for 2010 were Small Heath, of which John Lyons saw 5 at Castlerock Dunes, North Londonderry, on 8th May, a surprsingly early date, although recorded on 29th April 2003 and 2nd May 2007, also in the North Londonderry area I believe.
Finally there is a picture of a fresh looking Red Admiral at http://nibirds.blogspot.com/p/other-wildlife.html, apparently taken at Castleward, Co. Down, by Craig Nash in May 2010 though no date is given. Both this and Painted Lady were first reported in March in the Republic of Ireland (1st and 17th March respectively, according to http://www.butterflyireland.com/butterfly_records_2010.htm but this is the only 2010 record in Northern Ireland I have heard about so far.

Other species seen in Co. Fermanagh today were:

BUTTERFLIES
Real's Wood White (Leptidea reali): 2 at Kinarla, at least 2 including a male and a female identified at Bowara, and a male in a disused limestone quarry in Belmore Forest near Boho, some miles west of Enniskillen.
Green-veined White: 5 on a roadside at Brughas near Enniskillen. 4-6 at Bowara, 3-4 in quarry in Belmore Forest, 1 at Samsonagh between Enniskillen and Boho; c. 8 at Tonyvarnog near Derrylin, and 2 on a bog at Aghnahinch c. 1 mile south of Newtonbutler, A few others were noted on roadsides when driving,
Orange-tip: 1 male on a roadside at Brughas near Enniskillen, male and female at Bowara, male at Samsonagh, 2 males (1 rather small) and a female in quarry at Belmore Forest, 2 males at Tonyvarnog near Derrylin, and a female in garden at Aghalane south of Derrrylin. Additionally 5 egsg were found on Ladys Smock (one creamy-white, indicating it was less than 2 days old, and 4 orange) and 10 (3 creamy white, 7 orange) on Ladys Smock at Aghalane. However, probably dozens if not hundreds of eggs could have been found as Ladys Smock flower was extremely abundant in many fields in the localities I passed through today.
Peacock: 1 in fair condition in a disused limestone quarry in Belmore Forest near Boho, some miles west of Enniskillen.
Speckled Wood; 2 or 3 at Bowara and also among birch scrub on a bog at Aghnahinch about 1 mile south of Newtownbutler.
A search was made for Holly Blue at a promising looking site where Hollies were frequent, at Tonyvarnog near Derrylin, without sucess, although the weather here was cool and at times dull (as was the day generally in Fermanagh, though it ended bright in late afternoon, at least in the Newtonbutler area); a search for Green Hairstreaks on the bog at Aghnahinch near Newtownbutler also proved negative; the weather was bright but it was around 5.30 pm - 6 pm and may have been too cool (there was virtually no nectar sources here apart from 2 small gorse bushes).  

MOTHS
Burnet Companon: 1 possible at Kinarla and c. 8 at Bowara as given above under Dingy Skipper.
Common Heath: About 5 on a hathery bog at Aghnahinch about 1 mile south of Newtownbutler.
A bonus was finding a (dead) Pine Marten on the roadside near Enniskillen and seeing a live Buzzard on the bog near Newtownbutler, the latter generally much rarer in Fermanagh than other counties in Northern Ireland. This is thought to be due to the lack of rabbits (the Buzzard's main prey) which prefer lighter often sandy soil to the often heavy damp clay soils of Fermanagh, although Fermanagh is not lacking in woodland.
Interestingly to show how cool it was, http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/maxtemp.png shows the highest temperature in Northern Ireland in the 12 hours endign at 1800 hours on 10th May as only 10.5 deg. C., at St. Angelo in Co. Fermanagh, with a maximum of only 7.7 deg. C. at Ballypatrick Forest in NE Antrim! Nowhere in Ireland (shown on this map) exceeded 12.6 deg. C. though 15.9 deg. C. was recorded along the south coast of England; however along the southern part of the east coast, it was of the order of 10-11 deg. C,, with maxima as low as 7.6 deg. C. in NE England, 6.9 deg. C. in NE Scotland and in Shetland.
Tonight is clear and cold and ground and possibly even air frost will probably occur somewhere in Northern Ireland  by morning.
No records of Small Copper (apart from a probable record at Portadown, Co. Armagh, in late April) or Wall Brown have been made so far in 2010 although both have been seen in April in the Republic of Ireland; see http://www.butterflyireland.com/News&Comments.htm). These should occur before the end of May; the main additional resident butterfly which might be expected is the Marsh Fritillary (though even in 2009 it had barely appeared before the end of May whereas in 2008 several were seen on 18th May), though a migrant Painted Lady might put in an appearance, or a very early Common Blue.


Thanks to Ian Rippey for this update 


Moths on the Wing
Pine Beauty Panolis flammea
Flight Period: March to May