Field trip to the Ardnamurchan pensinsula in search of Chequered Skipper,
4th June 2011.

Twelve folk met in the car-park of Ariundle NNR just outside of Strontian on the morning of June 4th. The weather was bright and dry although with little sunshine. Our guide was Pete Madden, a local Forestry Commission Environment Ranger.

The eagle-eyed Pete spotted our first Chequered Skipper nectaring on bluebells within minutes of us leaving the car-park – target species in the bag – we could relax!

During the morning’s walk through beautiful oakwoods we saw a handful of Chequered Skippers, several Green-veined Whites, a couple of Speckled Woods and a single Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Day-flying Small Argent & Sable moths were regular but we were delighted to also find it’s big brother - Argent & Sable – a UKBAP species.

After lunch back at the car-park, we looked through the moth traps that had been run on site the previous night and brought our moth tally for the day up to 50 species, with a few pugs and micro-moths yet to be identified. The moth list is given below with particularly nice species (personal choice!) in red:

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the list was updated on 19/06/2011 with the addition of the following species: Satyr Pug, Grey Pug and Dwarf Pug

argent and sable bordered white brimstone broken-barred carpet brown rustic brown silver-lines clouded border clouded-bordered brindle common carpet common wave common white wave dark brocade dwarf pug drinker elephant hawkmoth flame shoulder fox moth foxglove pug green carpet green silver-lines grey pine carpet grey pug iron prominent knotgrass larch pug light knot-grass lunar thorn map-winged swift marbled brown narrow-winged pug nut-tree tussock pale prominent pale-shouldered brocade peacock pebble prominent peppered moth pretty pinion red-green carpet red-necked footman rustic shoulder-knot sallow kitten satyr pug scalloped hazel silver hook silver-ground carpet small angle-shades small argent and sable small phoenix tawny-barred angle true lover's knot water carpet white ermine

Drinker Elephant Hawk-moth Gold Swift Map-winged Swift Red-necked Footman White Ermine all photos by Janette Borwick

'Micro' moths Blastobasis lacticolella Cochylis nana Scoparia ambigualis Orthotaenia undulana Opsibotys fuscalis

Opsibotys fuscalis

Many thanks to Pete Madden for being an excellent guide and thanks also to Janette Borwick for both suggesting the trip and helping to organise it. I for one cannot wait to return to this beautiful part of the country.

Pete Moore