What better way to welcome in a new year and a new knee than to release our new updated website.
My focus for 2022 has been re-post processing our existing images alongside our normal recording activities in preparation for our new revamped and hopefully improved gallery display.
In consequence my blog articles have taken a bit of a nosedive, as I much prefer spending my free time attempting to improve our existing displays utilizing the plethora of new, improved editing software than thinking of something which may be of interest others.
Looking back at 2022 it is rather pleasing how successful we were on our field trips despite mobility issues.
Although we had targeted the Orange Underwing & Light Orange Underwing at a location discovered the previous year, we certainly were not expecting to record both on the same walk.
Rearing the Birch Mocha and Brown Birch Slender was also an unexpected bonus.
We had targeted an area of woodland we enjoy walking where it is possible to record some rare day flying moths and although we didn’t record all the species we were looking for we did record some unexpected ones such as the Cream-spot Tiger, Yarrow Plume, and Drab Looper.
The highlight of 2022 will always be the Burren Green, which although targeted eluded the trap where we were staying.
We have the appropriate licences for trapping on the nature reserve itself in a better location but were leaving this option as a last resort as walking on limestone pavement at night might prove a little tricky for me.
Remarkably, we achieved our record during one of our favourite morning walks concluding that it had just emerged which we believe is borne out by the images we took.
We also recorded several new species to us both in Ireland and at home so all in all a very successful year.
All our new records for the year are highlighted on our graphs page under Compare Years, selecting location and number of entries then pressing the Compare button.
On the butterfly front we were able to get further images of the Purple Emperor, but this will continue as a work in progress.
I think the butterfly highlight of the year for us was the male Brown Hairstreak recorded in the Burren National Park. We had decided to split up as things were rather quiet where I had wandered into an area off the beaten track somewhat. I came across the butterfly nectaring a short distance in front of me showing a total disregard of my presence and refusing to be interrupted by my advances even when shouting for my co-conspirator so she wouldn’t miss the opportunity of a few shots.
Our hopes for 2023 are to continue in the same vein while, hopefully, expanding our horizons to cover some new rather remote areas we have pencilled in for future exploration.
We also hope to return to the Burren, even though we have achieved our gaol of recording the Burren Green as we heard on the grape vine during our last visit that there may be a chance of us recording another local speciality in the form of the Irish Annulet at the same location.
If we must make several more trips to The Burren to achieve this record, it will be with pleasure. and enthusiasm.