Highland Branch membership has been on the increase in recent years and we are fortunate in having members in the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland as well as in Highland and Moray.
Our activities include recording butterflies and moths, organising events and field trips, and publishing newsletters which you can download from this site. We welcome contributions about interesting sightings of butterflies and moths, and queries relating to identification. To get in touch, just fill in the form on the Contact us page. |
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| May Field Trips |
Sat 11th May: Kentish Glory (11am - 2pm) and Small Dark Yellow Underwing (2pm - c4pm). Meet at Carrbridge public carpark.
Sun 12th May: Spring Butterflies in Lochaber, 11am - 4pm, meet in Fort William.
Sun 19th May: Pearl-bordered Fritillary, 2pm - 5pm, meet in Kingussie.
Fri 24th May: Chequered Skipper, 11am - 4pm, meet in Fort William.
Sat 25th May, Ardery Moths & Butterflies, Ardnamurchan. 10 - 10:30am start, meet at Forestry Commission carpark, Ardery.
For further information, including times, directions to meeting places and leaders' contact details, please visit the Events page. |
| Highland Branch AGM, 24th March 2013 |
| A note of the meeting, including talks, can be downloaded here (PDF) |
| Sexton-beetles request |
Sexton-beetles often come to moth traps. With only 5 species occurrring in the Highlands it should be possible for moth trappers to identify them with confidence - if necessary referring to the keys on the HBRG website at: www.hbrg.org.uk/FoHW/Nicrophorus/Nicrophorus.html
HBRG is therefore asking moth-ers to report any records to records@hbrg.org.uk
Records should contain the usual what/when/where/who details, with a 6-figure OSGR. If in doubt, HBRG is happy to receive photos or specimens. |
| The Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) |
The WCBS is a UK-wide project looking at changes in the populations of the commoner butterfly species. Before the WCBS was set up, systematic butterfly-monitoring was often restricted to nature reserves or other good butterfly areas. While this was very useful for monitoring the rarer species found at these sites, the results of such monitoring did not produce results representative of the countryside as a whole. The WCBS was devised with the intent to rectify this discrepancy, which it does by choosing survey sites at random.
Hundreds of one-kilometre squares have been randomly chosen across the country, each one waiting to be surveyed just twice a year by willing volunteers. Here in Highland Branch (i.e. Highland, Moray, Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides) we have 63 of these squares... and 23 have not yet been surveyed at all! Who knows what unusual butterflies might be hiding in these unexplored sites? Could you be the intrepid surveyor willing to go where no butterfly recorder has gone before? Or are you a seasoned WCBS-er wanting to continue with your existing site (or even to try a different one!)? Whichever description suits you best, please get in touch at wcbs@highland-butterflies.org.uk and I will furnish you with more information about the project and give you the locations of squares near you!
Ewan Munro, Highland Branch WCBS Champion
wcbs@highland-butterflies.org.uk |
| Chequered Skipper Survey 2012 (Report) |
Despite the poor weather we have been very pleased with the interest in, and the results from, the 2012 survey.
The aim of the survey was to target recording at 100 1km squares that were predicted, through computer modeling, to be the most suitable 1km squares for the butterfly in Scotland, but where it had not previously been recorded.
To download a copy of the report, please click here. (PDF file) |
| Garden Moth Scheme 2012 (Report) |
To download a report containing data from the 2012 season in Highland, please click here. (PDF file). |
| Scottish Macro-moth List, 2012 |
An updated Scottish Macro-moth list can be downloaded from the links below.
Notes on the Scottish Macro-moth List, 2012 (PDF file, 352 KB)
Scottish Macro-moth List, 2012 (MS Excel file, 106 KB) |
| Moths of Caithness |
This website has been launched to make available information about the status and distribution of moths in Caithness so as to encourage greater interest in the recording of moths in the County.
Please visit the site at: www.caithnessmoths.org.uk |
| Learning more about butterflies and moths |
 Tony Mainwood, based in Golspie, is available to give talks on butterflies and moths to schools and other interested groups in places north of Inverness.
If you'd like to find out more, please get in touch with Tony. His email address is tony.mainwood@btinternet.com |
| Butterfly Atlas |
A few copies of 'Atlas of Butterflies in Highland and Moray', published in 2008 by Butterfly Conservation Highland Branch and Highland Biological Recording Group, are still available, and we're offering them at the reduced price of £1 plus £1.10 p&p...
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Moths of the Month: May
