Fritillary butterfly

silverwash fritillary co. cavan

Brief chance to get the picture before the battery in the camera went.

This is why the rough parts of the farm with the wild flowers are so important. Also feeding on the knapweed was 2 painted lady butterflies ringlet, large white and green veined white.

So now the question is do they breed on the farm or has this individual just flown in from else where?Anyway great delight in getting it on the butterfly survey and a small copper.

 

Butterfly survey and watching dragons

I walk a set route round the farm every week in order to do a butterfly  survey. The results will go to the Biodiversity Data Center in Waterford. As July comes to an end the number of ringlets is going down and the green veined whites seem to be at a peak. It also allows me to notice the dragonflies each week. The amber winged hawkers have been out for a couple of weeks now. These are some of the biggest dragonflies in the district and easily identified by their brown wings. I was able to confirm that we have the hairy dragonfly on the farm  this spring which delighted me. Today was the first time I noticed a darter on the farm this year . Probably a common darter but I got only a brief glance and there did not seem to be many yet.

mating pair of amber winged hawker Co. Cavan

 

Getting to know the white butterflies

We have 5 species of white butterflies to get to know. I am getting my eye in to be able to identify those flying at the moment. So far I have seen the orange tip and the green veined white. The female orange tip does not have the orange tips to the wings, which makes it a bit more tricky.

 Walking for one hour on the farm this week produced;

   6 green veined whites

    7 orange tip butterflies

1 peacock butterfly

The small orange egg of the orange tip is laid on the flower of the cuckoo flower ( left hand-side of picture)

Underside of the orange tip butterfly with mottled pattern

Underside of the green veined white

Underside of wood white butterfly, which is not as common as those above. I found this one in Clover Hill fen , Co. Cavan , 5th May last year