Valentia island part 2, Buttercrabs

Having done the bird side of things I thought today I would share some of the landscapes of Valentia island as well as the smaller non bird creatures such as the various butterflies around the place.

I found several species of butterfly here but couldn’t get good shots of them all, the bog was covered in common blues, the rocky coast had an abundance of small browns and the mountain had a lot of Small heaths. Its amazing how these butterflies seem to exist in and around the plants in which their caterpillars specialize. (Wall brown Top, Common blue Middle and Small Heath Bottom)

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I also spend some hours in Caherciveen in the hopes of finding some coastal rockpool fish like shannies and blennies but since the tide was in all I found where a couple of juvenile shore crabs. Enjoyable day none the less and the shingle/seaweed even revealed some ringed plovers. (Guess which one is the crab).
 

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I only spotted one mammal, not too sure if it’s an Irish hare or a common hare although I am pretty sure it was a common hare. I almost got a perfect portrait shot of it but I couldn’t get off my bike fast enough. Unfortunatly I ended up with this.

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I found Ireland’s most remote pub on the lowland bogs, not doing so well judging by the dilapidation. Apparently they shot a Guiness add here.

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Some landscape shots. The island has a narrow calm canal on one side but is exposed to the full force of the Atlantic ocean on the other. Consequently the calm side is all shingle beaches whilst the opposite has impressive cliffs. Slightly puzzled at the lack of cliff birds here, the gulls, ravens and choughs seemed to be the only species in attendance. I suppose maybe they are happier on the offshore islands. The terrain itself is mostly limestone and bog terrain, definitely worth a visit!