Butterflies

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pricilla

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I saw a butterly last weekend and I realised, I hadn't seen one in years!
It was a white little one, but the more I was thinking about it, I can recall there being lots of those red admiral butterflies everywhere when I was younger.
I said it to my boyfriend and he said he had read it a few years back that they were getting scarce.
Is this true? I'm surprised there wasn't more coverage about it.
I know some of you might think this is a silly topic, but I thought it was a bit sad that I hadn't seen one in so long and in the space of my lifetime that things can change so much.
I hope I'm wrong, maybe there are loads of them due out in September or I just need to get out into the countryside a bit more ;)
 
Can be of no help to you in relation to butterflies dying breed ect but agree with you about not seeing them at all...only realised when i red your post. I used to spend hours in the fields catching them and letting them go...it was always the red admirials and every now and then you might see a blue or a white one which was a novelty! Maybe its something to do with the weather change and envoirmental changes??
 
no sign of the moths dying out with them....now there's something i would not lament!!!
 
Plant nettles! :eek: baby red admirals eat them. The white one could be the adult of the one that eats cabbage so plant cabbage for them :D
 
Pricilla i don't disagree that there are probably alot fewer butterflies now for enviromental reasons but also have you considered that maybe you haven't seen them because you have less time/oppurtunity. When you're younger you notice all these things and you have time to laze around and just observe, long summer days etc etc but as you get older, more responsibilities, work, less time, rushing around trying to get things done. it's amazing how much you can miss.

I lived in a city in England for years - never thought of really looking around, nature etc. i moved back here and out to the country and love watching the sun rising, setting, changing seasons etc which i had forgotten about. I notice also when with young child you notice so much more because they draw your attention to it. Without meaning to sound philosophical/ sentimental i really feel the poem which begins "What is life if full of care we have no time to stand and stare" is even more appropriate today when so many of us work in cities and offices and are more detacted from nature than our ancestors.
 
Hi pricilla

I would agree that it's more to do with you than with an actual decline in butterflies. Last year, I saw lots. This year has not been as good, but I have not been out and about in wild places as much. This year has been very wet which is not good for them.

I was cutting my lawn yesterday, when a Clouded Yellow flew past. That was a real treat. I have seen lots of Holly Blues in recent years.

If it's a nice sunny day, a walk along the Irishtown Nature reserve should reward with you with 5 or 6 different species. If you see a strange looking guy with a butterfly net, introduce yourelf! Or take yourself down to the Burren for a weekend and you will see lots more.

We will know the official answer soon when the results of the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club Butterfly Survey are published.

Brendan
 
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