New site causes a buzz

IT’S in the nature of the work I do that I get a lot of press releases, most of which are glanced at and binned.

But when I get one from the National Biodiversity Data Centre in Waterford I always read it carefully because I know it will probably contain nuggets of new information about Irish wildlife and ecology.

The latest one was no exception. It simply stated that hoverflies have now been added to their ‘Pollinators’ website.

I admit I didn’t know that this website existed but I’m developing an interest in hoverflies so I immediately logged on to it at pollinators.biodiversityireland.ie. It’s a treasure trove.

Up until now it was confined to information about Ireland’s bees.

But this on its own is a fascinating subject. There are 101 species of bee recorded in Ireland, including one that’s found on the Aran Islands and nowhere else in the world. But in general our bees are not doing well. Forty-two of these species have declined by more than 50% since 1980. Six species are critically endangered, 10 are endangered, 14 are vulnerable and three have become extinct with the last 80 years.

But it’s not all bad news. There are some species that have declined dramatically in Britain but are doing quite well here. Then there’s the story of the tawny mining bee. This rather handsome insect had only been recorded twice in this country, and the last time was in 1925, so its official classification was ‘regionally extinct’. But in March last year Sam Connolly discovered a healthy population in Co Wicklow and the following month Roger Goodwillie discovered another one in Co Kilkenny. There are still a lot of new things to be discovered about our bees. Much of the research is done by amateurs and there are details of how to do this on the website.

There is even more to be learned about our hoverflies, as there are 180 species in Ireland and probably more to be discovered. I am fascinated by their life-cycles, by the mimicry skills displayed by many species and by their importance as pollinators of many plants. They are also being used, on a Europe-wide basis, as biological indicators of environmental quality.

But the website shows that a remarkable amount is already known about Ireland’s hoverflies. The amount of information is largely thanks to the work of the two men who compiled the material in the Pollinators website, Dr Martin Speight and Dr Tom Gittings. These insects play such an important role in our ecology that we owe the men some gratitude.

Nature table

LESSER CELANDINE (Ficaria verna)

This is one of the first native Irish wild-flowers to bloom in the spring. The 8 to 12 petalled, butter yellow flowers (it belongs to the same family as the buttercup) first appear some time in February along hedge bottoms, road verges, in woodlands, etc.

In mild years they can open in January. Beneath them is a cushion of green, heart-shaped leaves which are smooth and slightly fleshy. The flowers open in sunshine and close if it’s overcast and at night. This was noted by William Wordsworth in his poem ‘From the Small Celandine’. In late April or May they turn a slightly orange colour and die.

The leaves are very rich in vitamin C and in earlier times people living in northern Europe tended to suffer from a deficiency of this vitamin in late winter so it acquired a folk name of scurvywort. Early herbalists also believed, on very dubious grounds, that it offered a cure for piles, so another folk name is pilewort.