Interesting/Rare Insects in Ireland

Necronomicon

I'm a hobbyist photographer and my main interest is macro insect photography (there is a folder of my work here). Now that it's coming up to summer again (misnomer, as it may well be) I am beginning to think about taking out the gear again. Last summer I was quite disappointed in my haul during the summer months - a combination of bad weather and inability to find anything rarer than your common garden fly.

I'm hoping the kind folk of this forum can help me out a bit - are there any parts of the country that have known habitats of interesting or rare insects? I'm in Cork, but I'm not opposed to travelling. The most interesting thing I've managed to capture is a dragonfly by perusing swamp/marshy areas.

Or, rather than travelling, are there any decent ways of attracting insects to a garden? I've seen feeder boxes in garden centres that are said to attract butterflies.

Thanks!

OpenYourEyes

Buddleja is a great plant for attracting butterflies anyway, and shouldn't be too hard to grow (and should grow fairly fast too)

maringo

Had about ten butterflies on a buddlia shrub last year. It grew very fast and flowered 1st year. Sedum is good too they seem to like it but link below to flowers that attract insects. Bees like it too. The boxes of wildflower mixed seeds should be good for attracting wildlife and can be planted up till June to flower this summer if we get one:

http://www.plantdelights.com/Butterfly-Attracting-Plants/products/950/#.UZU9IoKfLbA

Fab photos very scary close up

CJhaughey

Down near Kenmare there is a population of Stick insects, these are pretty big insects and hard to spot unless you see them move.

Necronomicon

CJhaughey wrote: »

Down near Kenmare there is a population of Stick insects, these are pretty big insects and hard to spot unless you see them move.

Cheers, I'll probably be heading that direction at some point over the summer - Muckross Lake in Kilarney has a rare form of dragonfly called the Northern Emerald that I'd like to see.

tittybiscuits

What about a moth trap? Keeping an ear out for grasshoppers on warm days in June/July is good too. With a bit of patience you can usually get quite close to them without them hopping away, sometimes you can even pick them up.
And I can't remember if it's thistle or hogweed but one of them attracts 6 spotted burnet, a beautiful moth to photograph...