Newsletter 13: Spring 2008

---

Contents

Chairman's Introduction | Highland Branch News | Pale Brindled Beauty
Notes from the East | Promoting Butterflies and Moths in Sutherland and Caithness, 2007
Moth Recording in East Ross-shire (VC 106), 2007 | National Moth Night, Tannera Mor, August 2007
Common Blue | Field Trips Report, 2007 | Moth Traps | Books, Hatches and Dispatches | Moths Count
The Historic Treaty of Kindrogan | Report from the West Coast, 2007
Obituary

---

Promoting Butterflies and Moths in Sutherland & Caithness, 2007

Introduction

A project was undertaken by Butterfly Conservation Highland Branch to promote butterflies and moths in Sutherland and Caithness in 2007 supported by grant funding from SNH. Matched funding was provided by the Branch in the form of volunteer hours.

The SNH funding paid for two aspects of the project

1. Equipment and resources including moth traps books and related items.
2. ravel and subsistence to those delivering the project.
   

A number of events were planned and this report details the outcomes and assesses the effectiveness.

Equipment purchased

Four moth traps, a portable generator and associated equipment including cables, safety items (such as bulb guards, waterproof housing for cable connections and earth leakage switches), nets, pots and identification guides.

Two of the moth traps, complete with all associated equipment, were allocated to Highland Council ranger bases at Lairg and Lochinver for use at public events and for loan to interested members of the public.

 

Rogart Primary School 21-22 June

After a preliminary visit at the end of May I visited the school on the afternoon of 21st June to talk to the children about moths and set up the trap for catching moths overnight. I returned next morning and spent about an hour and a half with the children looking at the moths telling them the names and letting them have a close look at them. There was a good selection of nearly thirty different species including several of the larger ones such as Elephant Hawk-moth and Poplar Hawk-moth. All pupils from primary 1 to primary 7 (35 pupils) came out to see the moths in the trap and even the nursery pupils and their mums had a look in as they arrived. When I left the older ones were busy drawing pictures of moths from photos downloaded from the UKMoths website.

Their enthusiasm was amazing and I was very grateful to the head teacher Anne Law for allowing me to show them some moths. She kindly sent me the pictures the children had drawn which I later returned to the school for their records.

Rosehall Primary School 11–12 September

Kirsten McGruer had only recently been appointed to the school in the summer term so I left it until 11th/12th September before visiting there. On this occasion there was very little time in the afternoon to do any more than set up the trap. However, the following morning I used a short presentation to explain the differences between moths and butterflies, the moth's lifecycle and show pictures of a variety of moths before we went out to look at the trap.

With a school roll of only 9 it was possible to let them get even closer to the moths and most of them had one or more of the larger ones (such as Large Yellow Underwings) crawl about on their hands. We also put several into pots so they could be taken into the classroom and compared with the pictures in the book.

Another successful visit, though the variety of moths was much less but I have been invited back next June for another session. Thanks again to Kirsten McGruer for allowing access to the school.

Camore Wood and Dornoch Links 30th June

A field trip, open to the public, was organised for Butterfly Conservation Highland Branch to Camore Wood to see the recently discovered Ringlet Colony and to Dornoch Links to look at the extensive Small Blue colony.

Thirteen people attended and the weather was at least sunny to start with for the Camore Wood section of the tripthough it was beginning to cloud over by the time we were walking through the dunes at Dornoch looking for Small Blues.

Small numbers of both species were seen and for somepeople they were both new experiences.

 

 

 

Butterfly Walk at Loch Fleet 22nd July

This was organised as part of National Save Our Butterflies week but unfortunately the weather was overcast and there were no butterflies to be seen. Six people did turn up so we had a short walk to look at the habitat and explain what should be about in sunny weather.

National Moth Night at the Ferrycroft Centre, Lairg 11th August

With the assistance of Ian Paterson, Highland Council Ranger, a public event was arranged for National Moth Night to show what wonderful creatures moths are by using a presentation and attempting to catch some of the local moths with a light trap when it got dark.

Unfortunately the weather was rather wet during the evening though it did clear shortly after the presentation was concluded and two moth traps were set up and a few moths began to be attracted. After about 15 minutes a light drizzle started again and steadily increased to a level that made it unlikely that any further moths would be caught.

Those that had been caught were taken into the centre for identification and discussion. Fortunately both Ian and myself had caught some moths the previous night and were able to pass these round for identification. Twelve people attended the event which given the early weather was quite reasonable.

Moths Count at Lochinver 15th August

Andy Summers, Highland Council Ranger, had made the arrangements for the Lochinver Visitor centre to be used for this event.

If anything the weather was even worse with wind as well as squally showers. However, an enthusiastic group of fourteen people turned out to hear the presentation and look at moths caught the previous night in Golspie by myself and in Lochinver by Gwen Richards.

We did manage to put three moth traps out for about an hour but caught even less than at Lairg.

Loch Fleet NNR Open Day 22nd August

The plan had been to operate a moth trap overnight and show the moths caught to people in the afternoon as well as taking them on a butterfly walk to look at the local butterflies with the Grayling being of particular interest. The moth trapping part went well and a good selection of moths was caught. About 16 people turned up and took great interest in the moths. Once again conditions for butterflies were poor and only a couple of Meadow Browns were seen. At the last minute I had to attend a hospital appointment and was particularly grateful to David Patterson for standing in for me.

Assessment

The project worked well in spite of the weather making several of the events less interesting than they might have been. However, all the people who attended them seemed to enjoy them and for many the moths were a new experience.

The general format of the public events in Lairg and Lochinver worked well with the presentations giving a useful background and an opportunity to have a general chat before going outside as it got dark. What proved quite important was having a selection of moths in pots that people could look at even though the weather was not very good. I know that some events operate over the two days with an introduction in the evening and an "open up the traps!" session the next morning. I am not too sure how well this would work in our area with people often living some distance from the venue and having to travel twice. On the other hand, it was clear that the Loch Fleet moths session worked well on the Open Day where all that was involved was opening up a trap that had been set overnight. This format could well be useful where there is no venue with the facilities such as at Ferrycroft or Lochinver to give a presentation beforehand.

Weather does not affect evening presentations to local groups. As these are quite likely to be in the winter they could be linked to a subsequent a field session in the summer with a morning event to see what had been caught. National Moth Night in 2008 is on 7th June and it will be sensible to hold a morning only session for this one as it gets dark so late in June.

The primary school visits were particularly successful and the enthusiasm was very gratifying. At both Rogart and Rosehall the head teachers were particularly helpful by being very flexible in allowing me to choose the most suitable day at very short notice.

Butterfly walks are straightforward but are very dependent on sunny weather, which of course you cannot predict even a week in advance far less several months in advance when setting dates for these events.

Plans are being made to continue the project in 2008 and 2009 and these factors will be taken into account. If plans, including dates, can be finalised during October it will be possible to include details of the events in the Highland Council Ranger Service programme.

And finally many thanks to David Patterson and Ian Mitchell of SNH for being so enthusiastic about and supportive of the project.

Tony Mainwood - Sept 2007