The only thing it looks like to me, with the help of my collins field guide is a tortoiseshell but that says they are extinct in the UK and this very site says not found in the British isles.
Am I mistaken? If so then what is it please.
Thanks.
is this a tortoiseshell?
is this a tortoiseshell?
Took this pic in connemara west of Ireland in July.
The only thing it looks like to me, with the help of my collins field guide is a tortoiseshell but that says they are extinct in the UK and this very site says not found in the British isles.
Am I mistaken? If so then what is it please.
Thanks.
The only thing it looks like to me, with the help of my collins field guide is a tortoiseshell but that says they are extinct in the UK and this very site says not found in the British isles.
Am I mistaken? If so then what is it please.
Thanks.
Can Kieran indicate if possible the date and exact site the Comma was seen? This is not the only record of a Comma in Ireland this year; 1 was recorded at Raven, Co. Wexford, on 22nd July and 3 there on 24th July (see http://www.butterflyireland.com/phenology.htm#Phen); I was at Raven in fine weather about 8th September but did not see any Commas.
The Raven site is, with the possible exception of Carnsore Point, also Co. Wexford, the only site in Ireland where the Comma has been recorded more than once (2 or 3 were recorded there in mid-August 2000). Possibly around 30 Commas have been recorded in Ireland in the last 100 years, the majority in recent years, though as yet there is no definite proof of breeding. I have written several articles on the Comma in Ireland for the Northern Ireland Branch of Butterfly Conservation and would be happy to E-mail these to anyone interested, if they contact me privately (if, as I assume, there is a facility on this website to do so).
Interestingly, in early June 2006 a Swallowtail (probably a migrant of the European race Papilio machaon gorganus) was recorded at Omey Island, Connemara, Co. Galway. This was not the only presumed migrant Swallowtail in the British Isles last year. There used to be a Butterfly House at Cashla ("Costelloe") about 30 miles to the SE, but when I tried this number in 2006 it was unobtainable so I suspect it had closed down (there was also no signpost for the place when I drive through Costelloe last year). In 1995 both an adult and larva of the Swallowtail were reported at nearby localities (Castlewellan and Newcastle) in Co. Down, and in October 1997 a dead Swallowtail was reported at Templepatrick, Co. Antrim, both Northern Ireland. I suspect that these were also migrants though to be fair, there is a Butterfly House at Seaforde, Co. Down, about 10-15 miles from the 2 former places, where, the owner informed me, they do breed the European Swallowtail as well as exotic ones.
Any comments on the photograph of the Comma, especially as to whether or not it is the form "hutchinsoni", would be welcome.
The Raven site is, with the possible exception of Carnsore Point, also Co. Wexford, the only site in Ireland where the Comma has been recorded more than once (2 or 3 were recorded there in mid-August 2000). Possibly around 30 Commas have been recorded in Ireland in the last 100 years, the majority in recent years, though as yet there is no definite proof of breeding. I have written several articles on the Comma in Ireland for the Northern Ireland Branch of Butterfly Conservation and would be happy to E-mail these to anyone interested, if they contact me privately (if, as I assume, there is a facility on this website to do so).
Interestingly, in early June 2006 a Swallowtail (probably a migrant of the European race Papilio machaon gorganus) was recorded at Omey Island, Connemara, Co. Galway. This was not the only presumed migrant Swallowtail in the British Isles last year. There used to be a Butterfly House at Cashla ("Costelloe") about 30 miles to the SE, but when I tried this number in 2006 it was unobtainable so I suspect it had closed down (there was also no signpost for the place when I drive through Costelloe last year). In 1995 both an adult and larva of the Swallowtail were reported at nearby localities (Castlewellan and Newcastle) in Co. Down, and in October 1997 a dead Swallowtail was reported at Templepatrick, Co. Antrim, both Northern Ireland. I suspect that these were also migrants though to be fair, there is a Butterfly House at Seaforde, Co. Down, about 10-15 miles from the 2 former places, where, the owner informed me, they do breed the European Swallowtail as well as exotic ones.
Any comments on the photograph of the Comma, especially as to whether or not it is the form "hutchinsoni", would be welcome.
sorry i got it wrong!!
The pic is from the UK, Maidenhead. 
I had been on hols in Ireland just prior to taking that picture and when I uploaded the pics (lots of them) to my PC I thought that was one of the ones I had taken over there. I was out and about just after I got back home and when I was processing them I forgot that it was from a different date. I checked the date on the picture with my diary and I know I was back home on that date.
Apologies for any confusion caused.
I had been on hols in Ireland just prior to taking that picture and when I uploaded the pics (lots of them) to my PC I thought that was one of the ones I had taken over there. I was out and about just after I got back home and when I was processing them I forgot that it was from a different date. I checked the date on the picture with my diary and I know I was back home on that date.
Apologies for any confusion caused.