Litter Bugs Me

I’ve been known to have a rant about the odd thing or two in my time but one thing that constantly annoys me is litter. It amazes me the lengths people will go to, to avoid disposing of their rubbish in a proper manner.

Up to a few years ago I spent a lot of time fishing Irelands beaches. I was convinced at the time that I was the only angler who took their waste fishing line and rubbish home with them. Rolled up balls of line and reams of crumpled newspaper littered beaches. It was despairing to look at.

Whenever I walk with our dog along Dollymount beach on North Bull Island, I get the same feeling. Rarely have I seen a beach as polluted as Dollymount. It really is in a shocking condition and Dublin City Council should be taken to task over it. I will soon be taken photos of this beach and sending them to the powers that be and looking for an explanation as to why it is never cleaned.

Anyway, last week I was down in Howth trying to take a decent photo of the Bailey Lghthouse (which I didn’t manage – light wrong, not enough cloud etc, etc) and I scrambled down the cliff walk to Jameson Beach. Now this ain’t easy to get to. It involves a bit of a camel hike along the cliff walk and then the way down to the beach is quite worn, and overgrown with foliage. It takes effort, and yet when I got down there I found the beach festooned in beer cans and in one area the remains of a barbeque was neatly piled in one corner.

Did the people responsible for this litter think that by stacking it neatly, it would simply disappear? Or that maybe the council do a cliff clean service. It beggars belief really, but then again, that’s the type of world we live in. One were a small selection of the population don’t mind ruining the natural environment we live in. I mean, surely the most difficult part of the day was bringing it all down there in the first place?

Anyway, litter bugs me.

Unidentified Insects

I have opened a new gallery on the website entitled "Unidentified Insects". The title speaks for itself. Insects can be notoriously difficult to identify. Even when you have corrobberating photographic evidence from books or the web there is still a margin for error. It bothers me that customers may purchase a print from me thinking it
is a certain insect, only to find out at a later date that it is the wrong species. Until I get absolute confirmation from an expert, I think this is probably the best route to take. Any and all contributions from visitors to this blog or the website on identities will be most appreciated. Hopefully I can ensure that there are no mistakes made on identifications.

North Bull Island

I seem to be spending a lot of time on North Bull Island lately, trying to get to grips with the multitude of wildlife opportunities that a photographer can expect when he gets here. It’s amazing how much you can learn about your chosen craft. No matter how much you know, something new will always pop out of the woodwork and surprise you. I liken it to fishing in that even if you go out purposely looking for a specific subject you can often come back with a different, and very unexpected, catch in the bag.

I was walking through the Marram Grass looking for Common Blue butterflys resting on the stems when I came across a curious little bug of some sort. I had a feeling that it was the larvae stage of something but quite what that something was I had no idea. There was something familiar about it, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It turned out to be the larvae stage of a ladybird. As you can see in the photo, the head is still very recognisable as that of a ladybird but the rest of the body couldn’t be more different. When seeing one of the photos, my wife likened it to a tiny armadillo. It does bear a strange resemblance to one.

Common Blue butterflies (Polyommatus icarus) and Six Spotted Burnets (Zygaena filipendulae) are now in abundance on the island accompanied by a lot of Meadow Browns (Maniola jurtina) but time moves quickly in nature and the blues in particular will start to disappear for the year soon enough. The aforementioned Ladybirds are everywhere. It’s the seven spotted variety that appear to be dominant and you can see plenty on the grasses where the dunes meet the beach proper. Get out and have a nose around before winter sets in and they’re all gone for another season.

I also came across a fabulous looking moth called the Drinker ( Euthrix potatoria) which is a lovely orange brown colour and gets it’s name apparently from it’s caterpillars which have a penchant for drinking drops of dew.

Most peoples thoughts will hardly have shifted into winter mode yet, but I'm busy trying to work out where the best position for a hide will be this winter. The island is a nature reserve and a very important bird sanctuary for many geographically important species. As the insects begin to disappear, my thoughts will start to turn to what can be captured on film over the winter months. I'm quite looking forward the temperature dipping a few degrees.