Cork may be the healthiest habitat for soaring butterfly population
The National Biodiversity Data Centre, which documents Ireland’s wildlife, has just launched a five-year butterfly-recording project. The Butterfly Atlas 2021 aims to track the insect as it is a strong indicator of a healthy environment.
So far this year, 1,260 sightings have come in from around the country, with Cork leading the way.
Since the butterfly season began just before the Easter bank holiday weekend, 240 recordings have come in from Cork.
The next county to record a high level of sightings was Wexford at 120 recordings.
“Cork is the leading county at the moment,” said Dr Liam Lysaght, the centre’s director.
“It’s a mixture of people, from those in Cork City to out along the coast, who are making the recordings.”
While most of the country’s butterfly activity has been recorded in Cork and in the South of the country, this does not necessarily mean that the southern part of Ireland has a healthier habitat.
Dr Lysaght said that firstly there is a strong network of citizen scientists in Cork and that butterflies only become active in about 16C, which parts of the South-West have experienced already this year.
However, butterflies do provide scientists with information about the environment.
“They are good indicators of environmental change, particularly things like climate change and land management changes,” said Dr Lysaght.
“Areas where there are a good variety of species indicate a diverse environment.”
In total there are about 36 species of butterfly in Ireland, with a small number of those in decline.
While the large five-year project aims to track the 36 species, so far only 20 have been recorded.
The most recorded species in Ireland so far this season is the small tortoiseshell, with 213 sightings.
“This is a very ambitious project, as we need a lot of volunteers,” said Dr Lysaght.
There are three ways in which people can volunteer to assist in the butterfly-tracking project.
One way is to submit “casual recordings” of butterflies to the centre via their website. You give the name of the species you have seen, its location, the date of sighting, the name of the person who observed it, and finally you give the co-ordinates by zooming in on a map of Ireland on the centre’s website.
Secondly, you can carry out a “five-visit transect”. This means that you sign up to walk along a 1km-2km stretch in your area five times between now and the end of August.
Finally, interested citizen scientists can take part in what is known as the butterfly monitoring scheme whereby you track an area from April 1 of each year to the end of September.
