A festival of butterflies

It’s late July 2026, and I’m enjoying Fermanagh’s Lakelands from a lofty wooded ridge. Though the county's famous rain has finally arrived, the countryside has been baking in hot sunshine for a month. This summer, for those of us old enough to remember, has been reminiscent of 1976. We had a fine dry spell last spring but this one’s more like the golden summers of yesteryear.

With hardly a black silage bag in sight, it feels like the whole country has been cut for hay, and the butterflies on Fedian are having a field day. Squadrons of marsh fritillaries were on the wing until June but, having completed their life cycle, have since disappeared. All that remains of their dashing presence are symmetrical clusters of eggs on the underside of blue button leaves. Turning from yellow to brown, the tiny eggs resemble couscous, carefully laid out on pale green plates. We wish the class of ‘26 well, as they embark on their tortuous journey to adulthood next spring.

Generations of other butterflies now adorn the grasslands and hedges of Fedian. In their smart brown suits, ringlets and speckled woods flit between different species of whites. Harder to follow, narrow-bordered bee hawkmoths zoom past, and dingy skippers skulk moth-like in sheltered corners. Migratory painted ladies, then red admirals add a bold splash of colour, and showy tortoiseshells and peacocks soon catch the eye. 

Peacocks have recently been voted the public’s favourite in a competition run by our colleagues at Butterfly Conservation. My vote went to the delicate and perfectly formed small copper, well-named and tucked away in the purple-moor grass. As with flowers, the colours change through the season, and by July silver-washed fritillaries are flashing their spectacular orange wings about. Known as the queen of fritillaries, it’s easy to see why.

Mapping, management and monitoring

Ian Rippey, Northern Ireland’s Butterfly Recorder, has now made two annual pilgrimages to Fedian, the second coinciding with a visit by the Nature Recovery Network (NRN). As usual, Ian was equipped with a butterfly net, and the group benefited from his considerable knowledge. From organisations across the country, the NRN came to witness how Ulster Wildlife is reconnecting sites of high nature value.

They were invited by our own Nina Schonberg, whose work considers sites like these in the context of the surrounding landscape. Much of this charitable work goes unheralded, and here at Fedian it’s grazing and cutting that deliver the goods. With species like meadow thistle and fragrant orchid getting a boost from early season mulching, centre stage is now taken by the cattle. Accompanied by a distinguished short-horned bull, a 16-strong herd has been grazing the nature reserve for three months. Their extensive and non-selective grazing style – wrapping their tongues then ripping up whole tussocks of mixed herbage – delivers the desirable sward. 

Unfortunately, owing to the porous nature of the fencing, these beasts are not always in the desired location. Despite our best collective efforts to persuade them up into the back fields, they are drawn to the greener grass lower down. Checking the herd in July, I couldn’t see the bull. He went AWOL for nearly two days and in the grazier’s absence, I was in charge. My frantic searching and phoning around ended when he calmly reappeared as if nothing had happened. Slightly lame, he was probably taking it easy in the cool of the woods.

This mini-drama highlighted the importance of further infrastructure investment. Handling facilities are needed, plus better boundary fencing, in advance of rolling out e-collars next season. Virtual fencing will enable more consistent grazing coverage as we look to optimise habitat condition. The piloting of these collars will soon commence, though full deployment hinges on a reliable water supply across the farm. Unusually, this summer’s drought dried out the very spring that gave Fedian its name. 

Overall, the cattle are doing a great job, but monitoring habitat condition while tracking down large and elusive herbivores is essential. 

Other things with wings

We have no apex mammalian predators on Fedian – none that I know of anyway – but at least two spectacular raptors breed here. Last year, a pair of buzzards took up residence in an ivy-smothered ash tree, though they kept me guessing which one. A short distance away, the sparrowhawks followed suit. While ivy eventually brings older trees down, it provides crucial nesting habitat and nutrition for many species. The sparrowhawk nest was equally well concealed, and I’d have struggled to find it without a thrilling sighting of the female. Clasping some unfortunate songbird in her talons, she burst through a hedgerow, making a beeline for the tree, and I followed on foot.

Talking of catching things, it’s moth season, and I’ll be sure to charge up the battery when I set the trap this time. Anticipating something exciting, there was a spring in my step as I returned to empty the moth trap at Fedian last summer. The bulb hadn’t been lit overnight and, barring a few confused-looking mosquitoes, I’d caught absolutely nothing. 

My children used to love finding new moths when we set the trap at home. Still in their pyjamas, the excitement was palpable as we lifted the lid on our mysterious nighttime visitors. Stunning elephant hawkmoths and garden tigers stole the show, and the kids renamed others. Poplar hawkmoths became bat moths, and the wonderfully camouflaged buff tip became a twiglet. Better names by far, in my opinion.

Last summer, Fedian’s undergrowth presented Northern Ireland with its first record of Cochylis flaviciliana. Not a familiar name nor one that rolls off the tongue. Also known as the gold-fringed conch, a small micro-moth, I’d be very surprised if this is the last new species we find. Dipterist Ryan Mitchell made the discovery while out surveying. No, that’s not his first name, and yes, I had to check what a dipterist was too. 

Summer watch

George, our grazier, did Ulster Wildlife proud on primetime BBC, waxing lyrical about how farming and wildlife can coexist. Hot on the heels of his appearance on Springwatch, I was delighted to welcome journalist Helen Marks to Fedian. With clouds of marsh frits chasing one another through sunlit meadows, she recorded a piece for BBC Radio Ulster’s ‘Your Place and Mine.’ It aired, fittingly enough, on midsummer's eve, and like Springwatch, can be found on BBC iPlayer.  

Time spent in front of a camera or microphone can amount to days, but when you then hear people talking about it for weeks, it’s clearly worthwhile. In any case, access to Fedian isn’t possible for all, and so it was, that I found myself giving a U3A talk. A room filled with 40 people attended, and feedback suggested they enjoyed the presentation. One person described it as “the best talk of the season” – though I’m sure she meant the subject, not the speaker - and encouragingly, another said, “great to see something positive in Fermanagh.” 

Last summer, despite shocking weather, I joined a tour of Eoghan Daltun’s woodland on the beautiful Beara Peninsula. Author of ‘An Irish Atlantic Rainforest’, many in his group were from the farming community, a key audience of ours here in Fermanagh. I made sure to extend an invitation to Eoghan, as his experience will help guide our woodland management at Fedian.

Our Environmental Farming Scheme Group will soon have another chance to learn about management on a townland familiar to many. On top of hearing their stories about Fedian’s past inhabitants, farmer engagement is crucial if we are to keep the community onside. Ulster Wildlife’s trainees, Northern Ireland Environment Link, and the local Men’s Shed, are also in the diary. Establishing these connections while promoting Fedian through broadcasts and presentations should stand us in good stead in the years to come.