Latest news archive

Many thanks to Jennifer Bates for sharing this exciting record of a Comma butterfly seen in her garden in Grantown on Spey today.

At Inverness, Ewan Munro trapped a couple of interesting moths in his garden on the night of the 24th August, namely an Old Lady Moth (below L) and a Northern Rustic (below R). These are the 5th and 7th records for East Inverness-shire respectively. In addition, the Northern Rustic is the first to be recorded in East Inverness-shire since 1997.

At Gairloch, Barry Blake found this Dun-bar in his trap. Dun-bar is featured in August's Moths of the Month, which describes its occurence in the north as 'mainly an eastern species, being scarce or absent in the west and north'.

Also tonight, at the same site, Barry caught Dotted Carpet, another first, but less of a surprise, and they were in abundance.

Nigel Richards caught this Scarce Silver Y in his light trap in Kildary, East Ross, on 8 August.

Below, is the Triple-spotted Clay he caught on 6 August.

Thanks to Martin Hind, Easter Ross Countryside Ranger, for this report:

Today, Saturday 27 July, I led the ranger event at Aultgowrie to look at butterflies and dragonflies around Achederson Farm mill pond. Weather looked suspect with heavy rain the day before dampening spirits. Fortunately on the day bright sunshine was the order of the day as we wandered up the farm track from the road. Speckled Wood, Scotch Argus and Meadow Brown along with Large White butterflies greated us as we passed by. Previous years also had Peacock and Red Admiral along this track although absent this day. Once up past the farmhouse, Dark Green Fritillaries were spotted along with a Common Blue amongst the ragwort. Pearl-bordered Fritillaries were searched for but not seen this time. Scotch Argus, Small Tortoiseshell, and Large and Small Heaths were seen and caught amongst the flowers just below the mill pond. Various grass moths and an Antler Moth were also caught.

At the mill pond the dragon and damselflies kept us amused with mating pairs of large red, common blue and blue tailed damselflies in tandem all seen laying eggs in the water. Emerald damselflies were also spotted amongst the rushes. Meanwhile common hawker, four spotted chaser and black darter where seen hunting over the pond and a lone pair of black darter mating and egg laying despite being harried by other male black darters. After lunch we headed out along the track towards Tighachrochadair where more large and small heath along with a couple of Scotch Argus and Common Blue were spotted along with a gold ringed dragonfly. We did record twin lobed deerfly with its bright green eyes, a lone dark giant horsefly and a number of notched-horned clegs as they attempted a free meal from us in passing. Not bad for a day that had heavy rain forecast with 9 butterfly and 8 dragonfly species seen in one small location and that was missing another 5 butterfly species that I know about .

On 27 July Nigel Richards caught another new macro for VC106 in the light trap in Kildary, East Ross, namely Slender Brindle.

Lyme Grass

Agriphila selasella

On a short walk in Culbin Forest, from Wellhill car park, Speckled Wood was the most numerous species, plus 5 Ringlet (illus) and a Common Blue. Sunny with cool onshore breeze, though warm & sheltered in forest.

Brian Neath, writing from Dornie in the west, reports that "It has been strange not to see any butterflies on several warm days during July. However I had 5 Dark Green Fritillaries and 5 Common Blues on Carr Brae on the 20th, and had my first Scotch Argus of the year in our garden today (22nd July). A huge catch of c.300 moths of 63 species on 20th included 25 Grey Arches, 18 Riband Wave, 16 Green Arches, 2 more Satin Lutestring and only my second record of Orange Swift.

Nigel Richards caught two Marsh Oblique-barred at Kildary, East Ross, in the light trap - a first for VC106.

Thanks to Tony Mainwood for this report:

"The transect count at Loch Fleet today produced a record total of 445 Common Blues. The previous highest count was 337 in 2004 while they dropped to a maximum count of just 22 in 2007.

"Grayling also scored quite heavily today with a total of 63. with just two higher counts of 81 in 2004 and 90 in 2006. We also include Six-spot Burnet in the counts and this year's maximum was 367 on July 6th but they were down to 29 while the previous maximum was 508 in 2012. Dark Green Fritillary at 35, Meadow Brown at 19 and Small Heath at 117 were all fairly modest counts but the season is far from over and there may be higher counts still to come. "

Thanks also to David Butterfield who reports that

"I was in the hills north of Erchless on 19th July and logged at least 315 Large Heath in an area centred around NH4246, and this was by no means a comprehensive survey. Also, in the area around NH439452 I logged 12 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, 13 Meadow Brown, 6 Small Heath and 5 Common Blue."

Thanks to Nigel Richards for sharing these records of micro moths new to VC106 (East Ross), caught at Kildary over the last few weeks:

Dichrorampha aeratana
Dichrorampha sedatana
Opostega salaciella

Dichrorampha aeratana

Dichrorampha sedatana

Opostega salaciella

Audrey and Bob Turner had a walk along the coast at Balintore and Shandwick today and saw the largest number of butterflies they'd seen this year:

Ringlet = 11,
Meadow Brown = 4
Small Heath = 7
Northern Brown Argus = 6
Speckled Wood = 1
Dark Green Fritillary = 1
Small Blue = 1
Small Copper = 1
Green-veined White = 3

There were also some moths:
Six-spot Burnet = 11
July Belle = 8
Silver-ground Carpet = 5
Large Yellow Underwing = 1

A gloriously sunny day with just a very gentle sea breeze.

Dark Green Fritillaries in abundance along the cliff-top footpath between Portknockie and Findochty (east Moray/Banffshire). As many as five seen nectaring on one patch of clover. Also 2 Ringlets, 1 Common Blue and 20+ Six-spot Burnet moths.

V warm & sunny.

Blomer's Rivulet recorded at Lochaline (first record from Scotland).

Press release (PDF file) - also report of field trip to Mull on 14th June.

Thanks to Kevin and Sandra Stanbridge for reporting seeing 4-5 Small Blues at Burghead, Moray, today.

At Glenfeshie, by the river Feshie (grid ref NH8401), Audrey and Bob Turner found a total of 8 Dingy Skippers (illustrated).

There were also some Orange Tips and Green-veined Whites.

Helen Mainwood recorded 4 Small Blues on the Loch Fleet transect (SE Sutherland) this afternoon.

Catherine MacLeod also saw 4 at Portknockie today.

Ron and Dot Ruston photographed this pair of Pearl-bordered Fritillaries on their transectt at Polmaily (Balnain) today in glorious weather. This was their first sighting of PBF at Polmaily this year.

Fay Wilkinson writes, 'I have been delighted to have this little beauty (Narrow-bordered Bee Hawkmoth) in my garden on sunny afternoons recently. It is feeding on forget-me-not and aubretia mainly - and doesn't mind hanging around to get its photo taken. Tony Mainwood (County Moth Recorder) tells me it's a first for East Sutherland'.

Thanks to Barry Blake who reports finding a Streamer (upper pic) and Barred Umber in traps in the birch woods at Beinn Eighe. An improvement on the previous Friday, when he and Tony Mainwood set 10 traps at Beinn Eighe and caught not a single moth between them!

Nigel Richards photographed this Small Purple-barred on the sand dunes on the south side of Loch Fleet, Sutherland, today. The colours are particularly striking - click on the image to enlarge it.

Brian Neath reports from Dornie:

A warm night on 7th produced 111 moths of 26 species including 14 firsts for the year. Clouded Drab the most numerous with 22 followed by Double-striped Pug with 15. Firsts for the year included 7 Early Thorn, 2 Light Knot-grass, 2 Red Twin-spot Carpet and single Scalloped Hazel, Lunar Marbled Brown, Glaucous Shears, Grey Birch and Least Black Arches.

The 9th May was the best butterfly day to date with Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Green-veined White, Orange-tip and Speckled Wood all seen on Carr Brae.

Brian Neath (writing on 3rd May) reports seeing a male Orange-tip at Ardelve on the 1st. This was one of the better sunny days but the temperatures were still low and there had been torrential rain since. Otherwise only one or two Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells so far and there had been no suitable nights for moth trapping since 12th April.

Brian did have 2 Engrailed at the windows on 15th April and a brave Water Carpet on 29th.

Thanks to Nigel Richards for contributing these photos of micro moths caught at Kildary, East Ross between 14th and 16th April.

L-R: Acleris literana, Acleris hastiana, Acleris logiana.

Thanks to Barry Blake for reporting a Red Sword-grass (L) and an Early Grey (R), caught at Lonemore, Gairloch, tonight. These are the first moths he has caught in this part of Wester Ross since 6th March.

Thanks also to Ewan Munro for his record of a Small Tortoiseshell seen at almost the exact same spot (NH346032) at which Stuart Benn saw his Peacock on 31st March.

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.

Brian Neath, emailing from Dornie, reports that 32 moths of 9 species were attracted to his trap on 16th March. These included his earliest record to date of an Early Tooth-striped and his first Common Quakers of the year.

This was Brian's highest species count so far this year but he had a larger total count of 61 moths of 7 species on 28th February thanks to 31 Mottled Greys.

Nigel Richards emailed from Ross-shire on 23rd March to say 'not much about here, but I recorded this male Early Moth and female Dotted Border at Kildary on 4 March'.

First butterfly sighting of the year in Highland? Pete Moore writes, 'Believe it or not, when I glanced out of the office window (today) I saw a butterfly jinking down the street (Insh). I rushed outside but couldn't find it. Couldn't get a definite ID but I would guess Small Tortoiseshell at such an early date. It was a warm and sunny day, especially warm inside garden sheds and behind glass. Small Tort woken out of hibernation by the heat?'

Insh is a small village near Kingussie, in the Cairngorms National Park, and close to the RSPB Insh Marshes Reserve.

A very surprising Spruce Carpet on 5th Jan at Golspie - a late individual rather than an early one.

Thanks to Tony Mainwood for the record and photo.

More moth activity in Grantown on Spey - Pete Moore recorded a Many-plumed Moth at his home today.

Thanks to James Hammond for this picture of a Chestnut, attracted to MV light at Forres today.

Thanks to Tony Mainwood for this record and photo of a Pale Brindled Beauty, seen today at Golspie, SE Sutherland.

Pete Moore adds the micro-moth Agonopterix heracliana, also on Jan 2nd, at his home in Grantown on Spey.