Some shots from my Bumblebee Survey transect at Aillebrack last Sunday. Nice to see a few Small Blues out on the commonage. This small area is the only location that I know of where the species occurs in Connemara. A few hoverflies around also. I don't have my hoverfly book to hand so I'll have to add names to a few later. The meadows and machair commonages are looking fantastic at the moment. The commonage here is grazed only by a small herd of cattle. The difference between this and sheep only commonage is stark. Sheep are generally bad news for most habitats in the West of Ireland.
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| Male on the right hand side, larger body and bill size. |
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| Small Blue butterflies mating. |
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| Small Blue butterfly |
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| Small Blue butterfly |
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| Sawfly species |
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| Arctophila superbiens |
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| Volucella bombylans |
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| Eristalinus sepulchrais |
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| Red-tailed Bumblebee, not much of the wings left. |
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| Greater Butterfly Orchid |
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| Honeysuckle |
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| Meadow |
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| Meadow with Ballyconneely Golf Course in the background. |
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| Cattle grazed machair commonage at Aillebrack. |
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