Spring 2012 - Glasgow & SW Scotland Branch of Butterfly ...

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Targeted searches were made for the Small Skipper and the Essex Skipper after no records were received for these species in 2010. Both species were found at Birkshaw Forest near Lockerbie in late July and early August. There are many under-recorded areas in the branch (see map above) including the islands of Coll, Jura and Islay, the Cowal peninsula, the North of Kintyre, lots of areas in Argyll and South Lanarkshire. Please get in touch if you’re interested recording in these areas and I can supply more information. Many thanks to everyone that sent in their records this year! Keep up the great work! Butterfly Conservation is blessed with the largest collection of invertebrate records in the world, and that’s all down to our wonderful members and volunteers who take part in our surveys and send in records of the butterflies they see. Recording really is the heart of conservation. Without knowing what is out there, we can’t take the next steps in protecting important sites, or identifying trends in distribution and abundance. There’s lots of ways to get involved: Keeping a note of butterflies you see in your garden, or when out hill walking, take part in the Big Butterfly Count, or help with a butterfly monitoring transect in your local park. Let us know about the butterflies you’ve seen and you will be contributing directly to the conservation of these beautiful creatures. Scott Shanks, Butterfly Recorder .................................................................................................... Butterfly Records Coordinators for 2012 All Butterfly Records Scott Shanks Flat 1/2, 113 Haugh Road Yorkhill, Glasgow. G3 8XT 07793052501 scottshanks01@msn.com 22 On the Spot – April 2012 Mull/ Mid Ebudes Alan Skeates Dunellen, Craignure Isle of Mull, Argyll, PA65 6AY alanskeates@btinternet.com .................................................................................................... Butterflies of South West Scotland Atlas Copies of this beautiful full-colour hardbacked book are still available at the bargain price of £5 plus £2 P&P. Money raised is used to support projects and conservation work in the branch area. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Butterfly Conservation’ and sent to the branch Treasurer: Mrs G Rae, 11 Miller Street, Hamilton, ML37EW. 2012 species map updates are available to download: http://www.southwestscotland-butterflies.org.uk/butterfly_records/swscotland_butterfly_atlas2012.pdf.
Why not Moths? – They are Just as Wonderful as Butterflies A singularly lovely summer afternoon alongside a cascading burn running down to join the River Nith near its origin in Ayrshire. Around us on all sides is a maturing forestry plantation, which as part of a Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey has revealed little in the way of butterflies. Six-Spot Burnets © Jo Davis 23 On the Spot – April 2012 It’s a commercial monoculture that does little for biodiversity. But here in this glade, unmolested by the commercial ambitions that surround us is a natural break about 200yds wide filled with a rich collection of native grasses, plants, shrubs and mosses. At last some butterflies Ringlets and Green Veined Whites and here a month earlier the area was populated with Orange Tips. In six week’s time the valley will be awash with Scotch Argus. Yet these are much to be expected. More interesting are the day flying moths to be found here, all equally exquisite as their butterfly brethren. We have found an Emperor moth languishing on the heather. A Vapourer moth, Common, Twin-spot and Silver Ground Carpet moths, Barred Straw, Northern Spinach, Latticed Heath, Small Angle Shades, Chimney Sweepers, Fox Moth, Straw Dot and the ubiquitous immigrant the Silver Y have all turned out to greet us during our surveys, some in larger numbers than any of the butterflies. Best of all was a stunning little moth, the Haworth’s Minor, found flying along the woodland edge on a particularly dreich afternoon. Don’t these names alone make you want to find out more and look into their lives. True some moths have the epithet ‘Drab’, but even these are qualified such as the Clouded Drab a lovely little noctuid that welcomes in the spring throughout the UK. It has very variable markings, with regional variations and graces the moth trap in my garden every April. It will in yours if you consider investing in one. So mothing is both a day and a night time activity. If you are adventurous, moths can be searched for by torch light on nectaring plants at night - try your buddleia or honeysuckle. Or by use of the sugaring technique, whereby a mixture of black treacle, brown sugar and rum is painted on tree trunks, fence posts or telegraph poles – old experts say at exactly ‘4ft 9ins’ from the ground!
Page 1 and 2: On the Spot Glasgow & South-West Sc
Page 3 and 4: Chair’s Notes Welcome to the spri
Page 5 and 6: Butterfly Identification Workshop (
Page 7 and 8: Glasgow’s Butterfly Leaflet Renew
Page 9 and 10: New Butterfly Transect - David Livi
Page 11 and 12: Submit photographs by to cowal.tros
Page 13 and 14: During the 2008/2009 survey, a scor
Page 15 and 16: The square with the highest total o
Page 17 and 18: Later in the summer the reserve was
Page 19 and 20: Red Admiral (The first species on t
Page 21: Common Blue 2,415 (2,020) (1,258) 1
Page 25 and 26: such work has revealed the value of
Page 27 and 28: discovered this uncommon, largely c
Page 29 and 30: 2011 Mid Ebudes (Mull, Coll & Tiree
Page 31 and 32: Small Marbled © Glyn Collis Ebulea
Page 33 and 34: This can be slightly misleading tho
Page 35 and 36: Key for event type: Butterfly Conse
Page 37 and 38: The Glasgow Show at Glasgow Green.
Page 39 and 40: Glasgow and SW Scotland Branch Comm

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