new newsletter no. 10, april 2018 - biodiversity ireland · 2018. 3. 30. · harm deenen wx12 ryner...

When the National Biodiversity Data Cen-

tre first opened its doors in 2007, one of

the priority projects established by Liam

Lysaght, Eugenie Regan and Stefanie

Fleischer was the Irish Butterfly Monitor-

ing Scheme. In their first field season in

2008, 34 brave souls joined the Data Cen-

tre team and walked a total over 1,000 km

across 39 transects counting 16,386

butterflies. 10 years later these totals

have now grown to a humbling 29,000 km

walked across now 123 transects and al-

most 460,000 butterflies counted by a net-

work of 118 fantastic butterfly recorders

Project Co-ordinator

Tomás Murray The National Biodiversity Data Centre

Beechfield House

WIT West Campus Carriganore, Waterford X91 PE03

Tel.: 051 306 240 [email protected]

Key Recorders

Clare

Paula McHale [email protected]

Kate Lavender-Duncan [email protected]

West Cork

Ciaran Cronin [email protected]

Abigale Brewer [email protected]

Donegal

Richard McCafferty [email protected]

Galway

Liz & Martin Byrnes [email protected]

Kildare

Jesmond Harding [email protected]

Longford

Áine Fenner

[email protected]

Tipperary

John Fogarty

[email protected]

Wexford

Mary Foley

[email protected]

across the country.

The result of this effort is that we can now firmly state that butterflies are in decline in Ire-

land. Since 2008 the number of butterflies flying in the Irish landscape declined at a rate of

2.6% each year. Any decline is alarming and although 2.6% sound’s modest, this equates to

a 12% drop in butterfly populations across Ireland over the past 10 years (pages 5-12). As

always there are some winners and losers with species like Peacock, Holly Blue and Silver-

washed Fritillary on the increasing by 8-66%. In contrast, what would be considered rela-

tively robust, wider countryside species like Green-veined White, Large White, Speckled

Wood, Meadow Brown and Small Copper declining by 16-64%. Now that we’ve identified

the trends, we’ll analyse the data further to identify the drivers of these declines and re-

lease a high profile report in the coming months. Again, it is as a direct result of your gener-

osity and willingness to support butterfly recording that we are now in a position to meas-

ure these changes with authority and provide an evidence base for butterfly conservation

management in Ireland.

Similarly, the Butterfly Atlas 2021 had a brilliant first year with over 40,000 records

(including all our monitoring scheme records) submitted from across the island of Ireland.

Having a common goal like the monitoring schemes, atlas and subsequent update of the

Red List has been a shot in the arm for butterfly recording in Ireland, with a 255% increase in

level of recording last year. We’ll do our best to keep this momentum going and give back

to you for all your efforts with the best data to support the best strategies to conserve and

restore butterfly populations across Ireland.

Newsletter No. 10, April 2018

10 years - 29,254 km - 458,648 butterflies

2018 Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme Newsletter

Small Copper, A. J. Vosse, 26.05.2017

Kilmichael Point, Co. Wexford


2017 workshops and field meetings An enormous thank you to everyone who hosted and attended all our workshops and field meetings last year, only some of which

are shown below. Our Annual Recorder’s Event in Belmullet is particularly noteworthy in that along with 40 brave souls and Dave

Suddaby of BirdWatch Ireland we successfully found the Great Yellow Bumblebee (B. distinguendus) on the Saturday and with 25

hardy butterfly recorders on the Sunday we managed to record seven species (when it brightened up!) in and around Carrowteige,

an area lacking butterfly records for over 20 years!

Sunday of the Annual Recorders’ Event in 2017. A beautiful summer’s day in Carrowteige Co. Mayo, Liam Lysaght 30/07/2017

Butterfly walk led by Brian Power, Castlecomer Discovery Park, Co.

Kilkenny 17/06/2017

Butterfly walk with the Carlow Branch of BirdWatch Ireland, Kilbran-

nish Co. Carlow 16/07/2017

Chris Wilson Memorial Butterfly Walk with the Wexford Naturalists’

Field Club, Raven Nature Reserve Co. Wexford 19/08/2017

National Parks and Wildlife Service staff Marsh Fritillary Monitoring

training, Cong Co. Mayo 04/09/2017


New and ongoing butterfly transects in the

2017 monitoring Scheme

Legend

New

Ongoing

Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

No. recorders 37 74 137 136 146 116 112 113 114 118

No. transects 39 69 138 135 139 126 117 120 125 123

No. visits 627 1,105 2,252 2,103 1,978 1,835 1,856 1,819 1,718 1,656

No. records 2,833 5,502 10,690 8,770 7,410 20,292 20,467 15,240 13,515 14,916

No. butterflies 16,386 31,113 75,591 51,622 43,008 67,189 63,737 38,770 33,046 38,186

No. species 28 27 31 32 30 32 32 33 32 33

km walked 1,082 1,907 3,887 3,630 3,414 3,167 3,203 3,140 2,965 2,858

hrs walked 585 1,031 2,102 1,963 1,846 1,713 1,732 1,698 1,603 1,546


Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme Recorders in 2017 Name Site Code Name Site Code

Aine Fenner LD01 Kevin Deering S01

Alberto Villarejo KE10 Leo & Geraldine Solosy DL04

Andrew Butler WX05 Lesley Whiteside WH02, WH07

Angela Brewer C40 Liz Sheppard DL03

Angela Dakin D08 Lorna Folan C57

Annette Lynch MH02 Mairi-Elena Crook DL07

Angus Tyner WW16 Malcolm Taylor D18

Anthony Pickering MO04 Mark McCorry OY02

Caroline Stanley G36 Martin & Elizabeth Byrnes G19

Catherine Seale G10 Mary Foley WX09, WX10

Cathy Kelly WW08 Mary Howard CE05

Christian Osthoff WW03 Mary Niblett W13

Clare McIntyre C37 Michael O'Connell G30

Cliona O'Connell KK09 Mireille McCall KE13, KE14

Colin Hamilton C38 Naomi Mitten CN04

Damaris Lysaght C29 Oisin Duffy W12

Deirdre Murphy G26 Oisin Duffy; Mairead Crawford W20

Denis Cullen W03 Orla Murphy C41

Dermot McNelis DL06 Padraig Keirns G29

Donal Sheehan C56 Padraig Rocke RN07

Donna Smith CE04 Pat Bell KE06, KE12

Eamonn Twomey CE16, CE17, CE18 Patrick Fahy MO10

Eddie Gilligan KE04 Patrick Sheridan KE09

Edward Hill D30 Paul Corcoran D28

Eileen Maguire G22 Paula McHale; Linda Paterson CE08

Emma Stewart-Liberty CE01 Pauline Murray D26

Emmet Fahy WX22 Peter Duffy G17

Eugene Dunbar WH08 Peter Wolstenholme C43

Finbarr Ryan T17, T18 Philip O'Donaghue C34

Fintan Ryan CW01 Rachel Vaughan; Brendan Sheehan T16

Fiona Lloyd LM04 Rebecca Teesdale G05

Fiona Wheeldon LM02 Richard McCafferty DL02

Frank Smyth D07 Rob Wheeldon LM01

Gillian Stewart WW07, WW10 Rodney Daunt C03

Grainne Reidy; Mary Burke G01 Ronan Mac Giollapharaic G35

Hannah Mulcahy G15 Roslyn Nicholson D19

Harm Deenen WX12 Ryner Weinreich C23

Howard Preston S09 Sally McElhinney G12

Ian Edwards WW04 Sam Connolly WW01

Irene Deisler DL05 Sara Garcia Hipolito LM06

Janet Whelehan WX23 Sean Forde KY09, KY10

Jesmond Harding KE01, MH04 Sean Mullins LS03

John Cullen WX13, WX20 SECAD Biodiversity C52, C53, C58, C59

John Fogarty T03 Siobhan Hardiman RN09

John Hardiman LK01 Stephen Lester CE10

John Kehoe WX16 Sue White D03

John Kinsella; Bruce Walker; WNFC WX01 Tadhg O Corcora KE02

John Lovatt D01 Tayto Park MH03

John Rossiter WW09 Ted Cook C20

Jon Freestone MO08 Tim Butter C48, C50

Justin Ivory WW13, WW14, WW15 Tom Kenny C19

Karin Manning D13 Tomas Murray; Liam Lysaght W18

Karina Dingerkus MO09 Tony Miller C16

Kate Lavender-Duncan; Eileen O’Connor CE12 Triona Finnen WX19

Kathryn Freeman KY08 Trisha Robertson C54, C55

This index is derived from the synthesis of populations trends of 15 species from 2008-2017 (see pages 7-12). The green line is the

smoothed trend line, the dots the multispecies index per year, with the error bars and shaded area around the line being 95% con-

fidence intervals. Per species trends and the multispecies index are estimated using international best practice methods developed

by Statistics Netherlands (TRends and Indices for Monitoring data, TRIM, Pannoeck & van Strein, 2005; Multi-Species Indicators,

MSI, Soldaat et al., 2017).


As you’ll see from the figure below and the heatmap on page

6, the 10th year of the Irish butterfly monitoring scheme was

certainly not the best in terms of the number of butterflies

flying in the Irish landscape. However, it always humbling to

see humbling to see how the effort we all put in to supporting

the scheme. Last year we collectively walked 2,858 km for

1,546 hrs and counted 38,186 butterflies across 33 species.

The “multispecies index”, presented below synthesises the

population changes in 15 species where we have sufficient

information to formally analyse their trends over the past 10

years. The smoothed trend line indicates that on average our

butterfly populations have declined by 2.6 ± 1.2% (± 95% con-

fidence interval on our estimate) per year, meaning we now

have on average 12% less butterflies flying across Ireland

since 2008. As expected for insects there are large fluctua-

tions year-to-year but even over the past five years this de-

cline has accelerated to 13.2 ± 3.6% per year.

For a species to be formally analysed it must be recorded at a

minimum of 25 transects per year, with 70% or more of it’s

flight period per year, for a minimum of six years. See the table

on the next page for the 15 species that qualify: five are increas-

ing, two are stable, seven are declining and three are too varia-

ble to provide reliable estimates of change. There are another

five species that are not consistently recorded at a sufficient

number of sites (10-24 per year), but we can tentatively estimate

change: two are increasing and three are too variable (or there

are too few sites) to estimate change.

The erosion of our butterfly populations is alarming and this year

we will continue to analyse the data to disentangle what is driv-

ing these declines. Clearly, weather across the seasons in the

last 10 years and both the habitats and landscapes that surround

our transects will be the first drivers we’ll examine, but by look-

ing at the biology of the species increasing and decreasing we

will also get clues as to sensitivities to climate change and agri-

cultural enrichment of soils. Irrespective of these future anal-

yses, the results of our collective efforts over the past 10 years

are clear: Irish butterfly populations are in decline.

Irish butterfly population trends 2008-2017

Multispecies Index of butterfly population change 2008-2017



Year

April

May

June

July

August

Sept.

Mo

nit

ori

ng

Sch

em

e W

ee

k Below is a heatmap illustrating the percentage of total butter-

fly populations recorded per monitoring scheme week each

year for the past 10 years. More importantly, these percent-

ages are generated from our analyses (multispecies index)

and control for differences in the number of transects walked

per year and the number walks conducted per transect.

The vertical total bar on the right sums up the percentage per

week, e.g. the 1st peak of butterfly counts typically occurs in

week 8-10 of the scheme (late May), with the main peak typi-

cally occurring in weeks 15-17 in mid July. Abundances recorded

in this 2nd peak are over double that seen in the 1st peak (23.5%

of butterflies recorded in the year vs. 9.5%).

The horizontal total bar at the bottom shows that 2010 was the

best year so far, with 2012 and 2015 the worst having less than

50% butterflies flying compared to 2010. Looking at 2017 in par-

ticular, weeks 5-6 were very good but weeks 10-11 were the

worst on record, the 2nd peak of butterfly counts mediocre and

the last seven weeks of the season were particularly poor.

Normalised % of total butterflies

recorded 2008-2017



Species Change 2008-2017 Statistical Confi-

dence, sites p.a.

Included in Mul-

tispecies Index?

Dingy Skipper Strong Increase (> +5% p.a.)

est. 95%, 10-24 sites No

Peacock 95%, > 50 sites Yes

Brimstone

Moderate Increase (< +5% p.a.)

est. 95%, 10-24 sites No

Holly Blue 95%, 25-50 sites Yes

Silver-washed Fritillary 95%, 25-50 sites Yes

Orange-tip Stable (± < 5% p.a.)

95%, > 50 sites Yes

Ringlet 95%, > 50 sites Yes

Green-veined White

Moderate Decline (< -5% p.a.)

95%, > 50 sites Yes

Large White 95%, > 50 sites Yes

Meadow Brown 95%, > 50 sites Yes

Speckled Wood 95%, > 50 sites Yes

Wood White agg. 95%, 25-50 sites Yes

Small Copper Strong Decline (> -5% p.a.)

95%, 25-50 sites Yes

Small Heath 95%, 25-50 sites Yes

Common Blue

Uncertain (± > 5% p.a.)

25-50 sites Yes

Dark Green Fritillary 10-24 sites No

Grayling 10-24 sites No

Small Tortoiseshell > 50 sites Yes

Small White > 50 sites Yes

Wall Brown 10-24 sites No

Brown Hairstreak < 10 sites No

Unknown

Comma < 10 sites No

Essex Skipper < 10 sites No

Gatekeeper < 10 sites No

Green Hairstreak < 10 sites No

Large Heath < 10 sites No

Marsh Fritillary* < 10 sites No

Pearl-bordered Fritillary < 10 sites No

Purple Hairstreak < 10 sites No

Small Blue < 10 sites No

Small Skipper < 10 sites No

Clouded Yellow** Unknown < 10 sites No

Painted Lady** Uncertain (± > 5% p.a.) 10-24 sites No

Red Admiral** Moderate Increase (< +5% p.a.) 95%, > 50 sites No

* Since 2015, 49 sites are now being systematically surveyed as part of the Marsh Fritillary Monitoring Scheme.

** Migrant species; changes in numbers recorded in Ireland largely dependent on conditions external to Ireland.


Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni

Ave. sites per year in monitoring

scheme: 10-24

Change 2008-2017: +48%

Generations per year: 2

Overwinters as: adult

Conservation status (2010): Least

Concern

Common Blue Polyommatus icarus


scheme: 25-50

Change 2008-2017: Uncertain, too

variable


Overwinters as: larva


Concern

Dark Green Fritillary Argynnis aglaja


scheme: 10-24


variable



Conservation status (2010): Vulner-

able

Dingy Skipper Erynnis tages


scheme: 10-24

Change 2008-2017: +82%



Conservation status (2010): Near

Threatened

Liam Stenson 03.09.2017

Abbeyleix Bog, Co. Laois

David Brennan 31.05.2017

Dunbyrne, Co. Kildare

Nick Parry 03.07.2017

Keelhilla, Co. Clare

Geoff Hunt 22.05.2017

Aughinish, Co. Limerick


Grayling Hipparchia semele


scheme: 10-24


variable


Overwinters as: larvae


Green-veined White Pieris napi


scheme: >50

Change 2008-2017: -24%


Overwinters as: pupa


Concern

Holly Blue Celastrina argiolus


scheme: 25-50

Change 2008-2017: +8%




Concern

Large White Pieris brassicae


scheme: >50

Change 2008-2017: -38%




Concern

Janet Whelehan 24.07.2017

Lough Bunny, Co. Clare

Keith Geary 14.09.2017

Annaghieran, Co. Cavan

Catherine Bushe 04.06.2017

Malahide, Co. Dublin

Colin Stanley 03.05.2017

Merlin Woods, Co. Galway


Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina


scheme: >50

Change 2008-2017: -16%




Concern

Orange-tip Anthocharis cardamines


scheme: >50

Change 2008-2017: Stable




Concern

Peacock Aglais io


scheme: >50

Change 2008-2017: +66%




Concern

Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus


scheme: >50

Change 2008-2017: Stable




Concern

Eileen Fahey 24.06.2017

Kilteevan, Co. Roscommon

Carol Gilroy 24.05.2017

Culdaff, Co. Donegal

Les Reed 27.08.2017

Blessington, Co. Wicklow


Milltown, Co. Kildare

Silver-washed Fritillary Argynnis pa-

phia


scheme: 25-50

Change 2008-2017: +27% p.a.


Overwinters as: egg


Concern

Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas


scheme: 25-50

Change 2008-2017: -64%




Concern

Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus


scheme: 25-50

Change 2008-2017: -47%




Threatened

Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae


scheme: >50


variable




Concern

Denise Williamson 20.08.2017

Killarney, Co. Kerry

Lydia Hebras Hernon 24.07.2017

Furbo, Co. Galway

Fionn Moore 18.06.2017

Glanrastel, Co. Kerry

Paddy Halpin 30.08.2017

Doonbeg, Co. Clare

Page 1 2018 Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme Newsletter

Small White Pieris rapae


scheme: >50


variable




Concern

Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria


scheme: >50

Change 2008-2017: -3.5%

Generations per year: 2-3

Overwinters as: larva/pupa


Concern

Wood White agg. Leptidea spp.


scheme: 25-50

Change 2008-2017: -20%



Conservation status (2010): L. sinapis,

Near Threatened; L. juvernica, Least

Concern

Wall Brown Lasiommata megera


scheme: 10-24


variable



Conservation status (2010): Endan-

gered

Jonathan Derham 04.07.2017

Curracloe, Co. Wexford

Tom Doyle 04.08.2017

Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow

Brian Carruthers 05.08.2017

Carnsore, Co. Wexford


Dunbyrne, Co. Kildare


Butterfly Atlas 2021 Update

The response to the first year of the Butterfly Atlas 2021 has

been fantastic with over 40,000 records submitted across the

island of Ireland in 2017. Given that previous atlases typically

collected ca. 12,000 records per year shows not only how

large the network of butterfly recorders has grown, but also

how having a common goal like an atlas can enthuse every-

one to get out and record butterflies.

The split between monitoring scheme records and casual

records was 50:50 both north and south, and I cannot restate

enough how important the monitoring scheme records are to

calibrating the recording efforts year-to-year for the atlas. If

you’re walking your transect you’re already making a signifi-

cant contribution to the atlas.

If you do know someone who has never monitored butterflies

but would like to start, the atlas is a great introduction. All

the details of how to get involved are on our website (link

below), but, in brief, we’re asking for volunteers to either

conduct a transect walk five-times in one year in a ‘high prior-

ity’ square and/or simply spend a decent number of hours

casually recording in a ‘low priority’ square ideally twice per

year (mid-April to mid-June; July/August). For those adopting

a high-priority square, they adopt a square for one year only,

then choose a different square each year of the atlas. Three

recorders from last year have already chosen to keep walking

their transect for the monitoring scheme!

To find out about the high– and low-priority squares around

you, and which squares would be the most valuable to target

for the atlas, we’ve developed comprehensive county field-

work plans. Again, they’re available to download from our

website: http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/record-

biodiversity/surveys/butterflyatlas/


http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/record-biodiversity/surveys/butterflyatlas/

http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/record-biodiversity/surveys/butterflyatlas/

Butterfly Atlas 2021 Update

After the 2017 field season, the 10 km2 squares

identified as needing the least (green) to the most

(red) survey effort from 2018-2021.

Distribution of High (shaded) and Low (unshaded)

priority squares for the Butterfly Atlas 2021. Please

check out our website to find your county fieldwork

plan (example below) for 2018.


Upcoming workshops and events in 2018

Annual Recorders Field Meeting, Wex-

ford, Co. Wexford 28-29th July

(Hotel: The Farmer’s Kitchen Hotel, Rosslare Road, Y35 FX46).

Given the success of our Great Yellow Bumblebee (Bombus

distinguendus) hunt last year, we’re focussing on another of

rare species in Ireland, the Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola),

on grassland sites in southern Wexford. For those who also

wish to record bumblebees there will plenty on the wing too

but we’ll have a more bumblebee-specific event on August 25

-26th in Roscommon (details are on the events page of the

Bumblebee Monitoring Scheme). The goal of the workshop is

to highlight how butterflies are sensitive and immediate indi-

cators of climate change, and how the Essex Skipper is an

excellent example of what to expect in the decades to come.

On the 28th July we’ll have introductory talks on its biology

and ecology in Ireland, followed by a walk in an area with a

known population and then a ‘team challenge’ to locate the

butterflies at sites where it was known and areas where it’s

now expanding into. As always, you’re welcome to join us

for a meal in the evening in the hotel and take the opportuni-

ty to socialise afterward. The following morning on Sunday

29th will then be a general recording day for both bumblebees

and butterflies finishing up at lunchtime. The meeting is free

to attend but spaces will be limited, so if you’d like to provi-

sionally book your place please contact me (details on the

front page) specifying which days (Saturday/Sunday) you’d

like to attend and whether you’d like to join us for dinner on

Saturday evening.

Talks & Monitoring Scheme Workshops

There will be a limited series of talks on the Butterfly Atlas

2021 and butterfly monitoring workshops in 2018. Workshops

cover all aspects of the monitoring scheme including species

identification, how to monitor populations and how to use

our online data recording forms. These workshops are weath-

er permitting, so please keep an eye on the News & Events

section of our website and social media for any updates.

County Location Date Time Booking Information

Atlas Talk, Waterford

Tinryland Parish Hall, Co. Car-low

20th April 19:00 – 20:00 Stephen Bolger, BWI Carlow [email protected]

Atlas Talk, Waterford

The Meeting Place, Upper Branch Road

24th April 19:30 – 20:30 Tomás Murray [email protected]

Workshop, Wexford

Pumphouse, Wexford Wild-fowl Reserve, Wexford

12th May 11:00 – 16:00 WFNC [email protected]

Workshop, Limerick

Kilcornan Community Centre, Curraghchase

19th May 11:00 – 16:00 Seán Hartigan, An Tasice [email protected]

Workshop, Monaghan

Knockatallon, Slieve Beagh 26th May 11:00 – 16:00 Rory Sheehan, CANN Project [email protected]

Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola)

29.07.2017 Jonathan Derham, Curracloe Co. Wexford

Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola)

14.07.2017 Tom Moore, Lingstown, Co. Wexford


http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/record-biodiversity/surveys/butterfly-monitoring-scheme/news-events/

mailto:[email protected]





new newsletter no. 10, april 2018 - biodiversity ireland · 2018. 3. 30. · harm deenen wx12 ryner...

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