Trip to the seaside

On Sunday I joined up with the Donegal Butterfly Survey group at Murvagh, west Donegal. Murvagh is on limestone and has excellent coastal grassland and forested areas inland, with the occasional dune and also scarce foodplants, so there is a wide range of unusual butterflies to be found.

When I arrived I immediately saw half a dozen Small Heath butterflies. These are very flighty at this early part of their season, so decent shots are quite difficult:

Small Heath butterfly

A little further along we found Horseshoe Vetch:

Horseshoe Vetch

Horseshoe Vetch is the sole foodplant of the Small Blue butterfly - the smallest butterfly in Europe - so we started to look in sheltered areas behind the dunes:

Small blue butterfly

The wingspan of this specimen was roughly 15 - 17 mm.

Dingy Skippers were seen, although not by my group, so I didn't get a shot of those. I did, however, get a decent shot of the day-flying Burnet Companion moth, which can very easily be mistaken for Dingy Skipper, and is often found in the precise locations that Dingy Skippers prefer:

Burnet Companion moth

One of my favourite early summer flowers is Heath Speedwell, with its tall, thin, elegant spikes of pale mauve flowers. It never gets very tall, with the tallest spikes reaching perhaps 15 cm from ground level. The following shot, however is quite fantastic:

Heath Speedwell and Creeping Willow

The oval-leaved plant surrounding the Speedwell is Creeping Willow, which is actually shorter than the Speedwell, so this 12-15 cm. flower is actually towering above the tree tops!

Here's a shot of the Creeping Willow seeds being produced:

Creeping Willow seed production

Further along the route, we turned more towards the Atlantic and found an interesting mix of plants and insects. This is Marram - the grass that binds the dunes together:

Marram

And this is Lyme Grass, another dune associate:

Lyme Grass

Close to these we found Wild Pansy:

Wild Pansy

And Spiked Sedge (if you think grasses are tricky, try doing sedges):

Spiked Sedge

I also spotted the larva of Garden Tiger moth:

Larva of Garden Tiger moth

And the larva of Dark Green Fritillary (a wonderful and scarce butterfly):

Larva of Dark Green Fritillary

Mouse-ear Hawkweed is identified by its lemon-yellow petals which are squared off and the fuzzy oval leaves:

Mouse-ear Hawkweed

Back at the car park, I noticed a single Cinnabar Moth:

Cinnabar Moth

Cinnabars are entirely dependant on Ragwort for their survival.

Disused quarry

Disused quarries often flood after a while, and our local one is often good for damselflies and dragonflies. It was a bit windy today, and although I saw some Blue-tailed damsels, I couldn't get a picture.

The quarry has its own micro-climate, and is home to a few species that I don't find anywhere else on my patch.

This Mayfly is one of the Baetidae, probably from the Cloeon or Procloeon families, which prefer still water to running water:

Mouse-ear Hawkweed - Pilosella officinarum - is usually associated with limestone, which is where I normally see it, but the quarry's upper levels are covered with them:

Ox-eye daisy is fairly widespread, but it's always earlier where the sun heats up the rock:

Male specimens of the micromoth Cydia ulicetania can be seen flying over Gorse (the host plant) during daylight:
The females are more nocturnal.

Quarry visit

The local disused quarry is excellent for wildlife. It's a suntrap and the bottom level is flooded, which is good for Damselflies and Dragonflies. I also find a few plants here that I don't find locally elsewhere.

Damselflies are pink on emergence, but quickly change to their proper colour. This male Common Blue Damselfly is just showing tiny hints of blue: Enallagma cyathigerum.



And here are two females:



Last week I showed the male Large Red Damselfly. This is the female:


Heath Speedwell is one of my favourites, with its large, mauve flowers.


Mouse-ear Hawkweed is quite distinctive. This is the only place I find it locally.