Recent Sightings - 29th April 2019
The bright and warm weather the last couple of weeks was extremely conducive for an emergence of Spring time butterflies; Orange tip butterflies were really active in the swamp and sensory garden, peacocks where seen out by the Brent hide and in the carpark and the brilliant Holly blue was in the open sunny woodland edges.
Holly Blue is a small blue butterfly that can only be seen in Northern Ireland in the Spring time. It's easily confused with the grassland summer time species Common Blue, which we have lots of here at Castle Espie, however only Holly Blue can be seen flying in the spring time. As the name suggests the caterpillars feed on Holly and therefore the adults spend much of their time flying in the sun, on edges of woodland and hedgerows looking for Holly to lay their eggs. Again, this differs from the Common Blue which spends most of it's time out in the grasslands looking for Bird's foot Trefoil. Holly Blue is not widespread in Ireland and are mainly restricted to County Down, so they are a lovely species for us to host here at Castle Espie.
The weather has left us briefly, but the butterflies will be hiding deep in vegetation biding their time, for when the sun breaks through the clouds and warms them up for a brief flight. Fingers crossed that sunny weather will be return soon enough and these beautiful butterflies will be back in force again.
Thank you to Jonathon Clark for the beautiful picture of the Holly Blue.
Count was taken at Mid - High Tide
Estuary – visible from the Brent Hide and the Limekiln Observatory
Black-headed Gull 52, Shelduck 3, Brent 1, Mallard 12, Black-tailed Godwit 8
Main lake – visible from Sensory garden and Visitor centre
Gadwall 2, Mallard 14, Greylag goose 2, Coot 3, Moorhen 5, Black-headed Gull 59, Swallow 10
Shingle bank – visible from Sensory garden, Wadermarsh and Visitor Centre
Black-head Gull 103, Mallard 4, Gadwall 3, Coot 1, Teal 3, Lesser Black-back gull 1
Wadermarsh – visible from Wadermarsh lookout and Brent Hide
Oysertcatcher 1, Mallard 3, Black-headed Gull 14
Freshwater Lagoon – visible from Brent Hide and Crannóg
Mallard 15, Gadwall 4, Tufted Duck 6, Greylag goose 1, Coot 3, Black-headed Gull c.300, Jackdaw 4, Goldfinch 5, Grey Heron 1
Saline Lagoon – visible from Limekiln observatory
Black-headed Gull 14, Little Egret 1
Limestone Lake
Little Grebe 2
Peninsula Field and Saltmarsh
Black-headed Gull 1, Little Egret 1, Shelduck 1, Black-tailed Godwit 3, Jackdaw
Brickworks
Pied Wagtail, Blackbird
Woodland
Blue tit, Great tit, Coal tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Goldcrest, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Wren, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Robin, Dunnock, Wood Pigeon, Jackdaw,
Seen in the past week (not on this morning's count)
Bullfinch, Treecreeper, Sparrowhawk, Jay, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Hooded Crow, Sand Martins
Butterflies
Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Green-veined White, Orange-tip, Speckled wood, Holly Blue
