Looking for caterpillars in Cloughjordan

Their wings are like yellow and orange stained-glass windows with the sun shining through them, their caterpillars huddle together for warmth, and they live on the royal purple-blue Devil’s Bit scabious. They’re Ireland’s only protected species of butterfly and they may be making homes for themselves in North Tipperary.

On Saturday September 9th the newly-formed Cloughjordan Naturalists’ Field Club met in the Thomas MacDonagh Heritage Centre, Cloughjordan, to spend the morning in a workshop followed by an afternoon field trip learning about, then looking for, the Marsh Fritillary butterfly. The larvae, or caterpillars of this extraordinarily beautiful insect have been reported on Scohoboy Bog, near Cloughjordan. Tomás Murray from the Irish National Biodiversity Centre ran the workshop in a very engaging style, making light of the statistical data and explaining how monitoring works. The attendees learned about the Marsh Fritillary, its habits and habitat, and how a seriously systematic and scientific monitoring programme to record  its distribution is in the process of being established.

In the afternoon the group went to Scohaboy Bog to try to find the caterpillars that had been recorded earlier in the year. There was a purple haze of Devil’s Bit scabious, but sadly the caterpillars being sought were elusive. The day was not wasted though, as there were many other butterflies, caterpillars, frogs and late-flowering plants to admire, and the sun shone on the club’s first outing.

For more information on the Marsh Fritillary and other butterflies, go to the Irish National Biodiversity website. For more information on the Cloughjordan Naturalists’ Field Club, contact Gearóid on 087 900 9748.