Pete Eeles wrote:The last Irish subspecies I was on the lookout for was Grayling ssp. hibernica. Despite travelling 200+ miles in search of the beasty, I drew a blank, and this particular nemesis will have to now wait until next year (at least I have an excuse to go back)! I fear I was simply too late in the season. Visits to Dunquin on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Knockadoon in County Cork, and The Raven in County Wexford provided stunning scenery nonetheless.
It Ain't Over until ...
An unexpected turn of events at work required me to be back in Dublin tomorrow. Working out the logistics meant that I could, feasibly, spend some time today butterflying. Seeing that the weather was going to be ok, I trawled the excellent ButterflyIreland website for current and old records of Grayling (
ssp. hibernica). I was surprised that both this year, and in past years, there had been sightings of Grayling well into September, many sightings at Ballyteigue Burrow Nature Reserve in County Wexford, on the south coast. A brief correspondence with David Nash confirmed that the place is one of the best sites in Ireland for Grayling!
And so a 0415 start, 0640 flight and 2 1/2 hour drive found me at the reserve - but the place is huge and the Grayling (I was told) were in an area about 4 miles from where I parked. The reserve is essentially a long spit, and there's not really any way to get closer to the area I needed to visit. Since I could do with the exercise
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
, I loaded up with water and some food, and headed off.
![1.jpg (535.7 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Ballyteigue Burrow Nature Reserve](./files/thumb_3_cf47fbe8024f5d0c69e969e8e5009244)
- Ballyteigue Burrow Nature Reserve
Quite fresh Meadow Brown (
ssp. iernes) were flying but I had to be single-minded and find my nemesis! After (I estimate) 2 miles, I saw what I thought was a Dark Green Fritillary but, blow me down, it was the largest Grayling I've ever seen - an absolutely huge female Grayling
ssp. hibernica flashing its orange-brown upperside as it flew! This area produced a dozen Grayling in total and it was fascinating watching males guard their territories and lurch up at anything that flew by.
![2.jpg (625.82 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Grayling ssp. hibernica (male)](./files/thumb_3_d9f7a078d7ee2ce90c13a87502a091dd)
- Grayling ssp. hibernica (male)
![3.jpg (381.8 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Grayling ssp. hibernica (female)](./files/thumb_3_11fb201ce35917468836796ea0ba9292)
- Grayling ssp. hibernica (female)
![4.jpg (424.8 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Grayling ssp. hibernica (female)](./files/thumb_3_8a8b90d12a725e445c56c37b746295d1)
- Grayling ssp. hibernica (female)
Moving on to the recommended area, Grayling were everywhere and I estimate I saw at least 50 individuals in total, including females egg-laying and a couple of pairs "in cop". But the highlight (after several failed attempts on this trip and others) was filming the Grayling courtship ritual to its conclusion - a mating pair! Watching the male draw the female's antennae over his sex brands seemed to put the female under a spell since, as you can see, he moves around to the side to mate with her. Top stuff! I've now seen 5 of the 6 Grayling subspecies -
ssp. atlantica is definitely a 2014 target!
![5.jpg (474.86 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Grayling ssp. hibernica (pair in cop)](./files/thumb_3_bfb1f39b52b47afda78d6dc30ce06869)
- Grayling ssp. hibernica (pair in cop)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNat4V3XlwI[/video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vHzIVvIUv8[/video]
With the Grayling "in the bag" (not literally!) I then searched out the Meadow Brown, which were much fresher than those I'd seen at North Bull Island in Dublin on previous trips. As luck would have it, I managed to get the very shot I was after - an upperside of a male Meadow Brown
ssp. iernes that has extensive orange patches and which, back home, would almost certainly be mistaken for a female!
![6.jpg (523.8 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Meadow Brown ssp. iernes (male)](./files/thumb_3_9e4dec0adc60bccd81e19621d9cbc738)
- Meadow Brown ssp. iernes (male)
![7.jpg (391.05 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Meadow Brown ssp. iernes (male)](./files/thumb_3_c8f2d8bf02184a398589190f3d8ce580)
- Meadow Brown ssp. iernes (male)
![8.jpg (547.27 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Meadow Brown ssp. iernes (female)](./files/thumb_3_fd8296365ac493679aef645616409edd)
- Meadow Brown ssp. iernes (female)
![9.jpg (487.83 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Meadow Brown ssp. iernes (female)](./files/thumb_3_d5fefc076f3402c179fee10ba56e6c7e)
- Meadow Brown ssp. iernes (female)
To top it off, I not only caught up with a freshly-emerged Small Copper
ssp. hibernica, but also saw half a dozen Wall to boot, topping off one of the best butterflying days I've had this year!
![10.jpg (421.52 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Small Copper ssp. hibernica (female)](./files/thumb_3_d584c3e6d14174a98248e74a18810b51)
- Small Copper ssp. hibernica (female)
![11.jpg (337.89 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Small Copper ssp. hibernica (female)](./files/thumb_3_e9037d429351783c3063bbd446d5efdc)
- Small Copper ssp. hibernica (female)
![12.jpg (618.99 KiB) Viewed 1542 times Wall (female)](./files/thumb_3_fb10d7ab0f2748fa6db50d1262249c0c)
- Wall (female)
Cheers,
- Pete