Volunteers sought to monitor butterfly population

PEOPLE ARE being sought throughout the country to help monitor the butterfly population.

The project is being run by the National Biodiversity Data Centre, and anybody who has an interest in wildlife – as well as amateur lepidopterists – “can get involved”.

The co-ordinator of the Irish butterfly monitoring scheme, Dr Eugenie Regan, said more than 100 volunteers, at sites from Donegal to Wexford, were already participating. But she added that new volunteers were needed for this summer. The data collected was of “enormous value”, she said, because butterflies were highly sensitive to changes in the environment, and fluctuations in their numbers could help to identify “environmental problems”.

Dr Regan described butterflies as “a charismatic species” whose short life cycle and sensitivity to climate and environmental change make them “ideal biodiversity indicators”. There are 33 species of butterfly in Ireland, some of which are native – such as the Irish Meadow Brown. Others, such as the Red Admiral, migrate here from warmer countries. Apart from being a food source for birds and other animals, they are also important as pollinators.

Dr Regan said monitoring last year had recorded a “severe drop in numbers of Holly Blue butterflies being recorded”.

She hoped this was a natural part of the ecology of this native species, but the project would be keeping a close eye on it over the next few years. The Holly Blue has wings of silvery-blue tinged with lilac and is found where remnants of woodland contain holly.

There was more positive news about the Painted Lady, a species which breeds in Mediterranean countries before migrating throughout Europe. Last year, the Painted Lady arrived in millions to Ireland in May due to an exceptionally productive breeding season in northern Africa.

Volunteers should contact the Waterford-based National Biodiversity Data Centre at biodiversityireland.ie, or by telephoning 051-306240.