Since 2004, the Inishowen peninsula in the north-east has two enthusiasts, George McDermott and Karl King, who have transformed the picture around Buncrana, and are now branching out to other sites in the peninsula. This has started to deliver records of migrants as well as scarce coastal species.

The Inishowen team are linking into Donegal Moths mapping system and then Nationally. Since the launch of the website in 2004, the overall picture has been slowly but steadily changing. It is now more apparent which species are widespread and which have more localised distributions within the county. For example, there are some species which we suspect are scarce or absent in the west, but generally widespread in the east - and vice-versa. The occurrence of many species are limited by availability of habitat or food species, while others, like the Barred Chestnut in the north-east, show a geographical bias. The maps also show that many species have a coastal distribution. Donegal is unusual in that as well as genuine coastal habitats, most of the calcareous grassland in the county is coastal and much of the calcicole flora is coastal too. This may point to priorities for conservation, as these coastal habitats are changing rapidly. An all-Ireland survey for Belted Beauty in 2006 revealed that its habitat (patches of Bird’s-foot Trefoil growing in association with areas of loose sand) is now almost totally absent from Donegal, and the Belted Beauty was not found here.

The species maps show the widespread trapping locations in Donegal. See maps at http://www.skylark.ie/donegalmoths/sites.asp

For more information on this please contact Inishowen Moths details above.