Kildoney, Donegal: 1 & 3 March 2009

Went to Donegal on Sunday 1st March ..... It was almost summerlike with trout rising to the fly, rooks nesting and MF larvae basking in the sun. Then we had 3 inches of snow on 3rd!  I saw one clump of larvae basking at Kildoney on the 1st about 80/100 in total .No sign of a web. I went back on the afternoon of 3rd when snow had largely melted in the strong sunshine and was surprised to see the same clump in situ obviously unaffected by being covered in snow for some hours. Further looking revealed 3 more loose clumps with no web covering. There was in excess of 300 larvae in the 4 clumps, about 1 cm each in length. I checked 3 other sites on the Pettigoe Plateau on the way back on Thurs in sunny conditions but no sign of either webs or clumps. Kildoney at an alt. of 30 ft.and beside the sea is obviously much milder than the other sites at 500 ft. and inland . Will be interesting to see what time lag will occur during flight season.

Frank Smyth