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53.

14th August 1946.

A very nice day after a terrible day of gale & wind on 12th & heavy cold showers & N. wind on 13th.  Left home in car at 10 A.M. & drove to far end of Brittas Bay Co. WI. arriving at about noon, as we had stopped for a few minutes at top of hill S. of Rathnew to admire the view of the Wicklow hills & immediately look at position of the Junkers plane which crashed almost on summit of Douce on Monday (12th) afternoon with French Girl Guides - nobody being killed!

Wind W. & light in morning, but a sudden cold N.E. wind came in off the sea at 12.30 & lasted for half an hour; the wind SE & light & later SW. & the W. & finally N. at 4.30 PM an obvious jam formed of hills to N & NW. & as we left for home at 5 P.M. it had reached the ridge of hills S. of Wicklow;  we drove through it near Redcross & then for miles on flooded roads & out into sunshine.  Another very heavy shower from N. hit Dublin at 7.30 PM. & lasted 15 minutes.

The rains on 12th had flooded the lagoon in dunes & the great marsh behind there & so 


54.

14.8.46, cont.  Buckroney dunes, WI., cont.

collecting in the latter quite impossible, & much restricted in the former:  collected by sweeping in 4 areas, as follows:-

1 = Sand dunes S. of outlet of marsh S. of Mizen Head & just E. of old road through dunes & W. of lagoon in dunes. 

2 = About Salix & Betula scrub (bushes) in hollow E. of station 1 & on S.W. edge of the lagoon, where much Juncus acutus & Salix repens.

3 = Similar habitat in next hollow S. of station 3.

4 = Flooded edge of lagoon annex, today full of water, but normally dry in summer, where much Scirpus maritimus, Scirpus tabernaemontani, Juncus acutus, J. maritimus, Polygonum amphibium, &c.;  but the best ground under water. 

Butterflies seen during day: - Meadow Brown very common, Grayling: common;  Common Blue & Small Copper one of each only, the former a ♂︎.