Butterfly Conservation: Highland Branch

Welcome to Highland Branch of Butterfly Conservation

Butterfly Conservation is a registered charity dedicated to the conservation of butterflies and moths.

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.

Branch field trip to Morrich More, Tain. Photo by Bill Slater.

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.

Moths of the Month: July

In this regular feature, Roy Leverton illustrates a selection of characteristic moths to look out for each month in our area.

The Snout, Hypena proboscidalis.

The long palps of this moth give rise to both the English and scientific name. Its shape is equally distinctive: nearly a perfect equilateral triangle. Read more...

Scottish Macro Moth List

The National Moth Recording Scheme (NMRS) has produced a list that aims to include every species of macro-moth reliably recorded from Scotland, together with an assessment of its Scottish as opposed to UK status. It is intended as guidance for observers contributing to the NMRS.

Download list (PDF file).

Learning more about butterflies and moths

Highland Branch Secretary 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. You'll find his contact details on the Committee page.

Atlas of Butterflies in Highland and Moray

This Atlas, published in October 2008, documents the distribution of 30 species of butterflies in the period 1980 - 2007, in the area covered by Highland Branch of Butterfly Conservation.

Field trips in August

Loch Fleet NNR Open Day,
Saturday 7th August

Moths and butterfly walk. Meet at 10.00am at the car park at Littleferry, Grid Ref NH 806 955, OS Sheet 21. Duration 1 hour 30 minutes on official programme but can be extended.

Leader: Tony Mainwood.

Findhorn, Friday 13th August

Moth event, targeting Lunar Yellow Underwing, a UKBAP species not recorded in the area since 1997, and also the Portland Moth, Coast Dart and Archer’s Dart.

Meet at Findhorn Beach car park at 9.00pm Grid Ref NJ 043 648, OS Sheet 27. If you wish, bring your own moth traps to increase the chances of success, but please contact Mike first*. Warm clothing, torch and sustenance advisable.

Duration – as late as you wish! If the weather is bad there is the option of trying the Saturday.

(There is apparently a historic record of Crescent Dart, though that prefers rocky coastlines – but Burghead isn't far away for those who wish to go on and search for it.)

Leader: Mike Taylor.

Lochaline, Morvern - Looking for Purple Hairstreak, Saturday 21st August.

This butterfly is a recent colonist to the Highlands. We will also look for the larval webs of Marsh Fritillary.

Meet at 1.30pm in the car park of the café at the Lochaline – Mull ferry terminal, grid ref (NM 679 445). This will allow members on Mull to attend the trip.

For more info and to arrange joint transport please contact Tom Prescott: Tel: 01540 661469, Mobile: 07979 785665, Email: tprescott@butterfly-conservation.org

*Please visit the Events page for more information about our field trip programme and contact details.

Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey 2010

Although we are no into June it is not too late to sign up for the exciting new Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey.

This was launched last year by Butterfly Conservation, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and it got off to a flying start. Although the very ambitious target of surveying butterflies in 1000 randomly-selected 1km map squares was not achieved, an impressive 763 squares were monitored during 2009. This was an excellent effort, especially considering the limited resources available to promote and co-ordinate the survey.

For more details of this and other surveys taking place in 2010, please visit our Surveys page.