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

such work has revealed the value of changing farming practice in
relation to hedgerows, field verges and river banks that increase the
diversity of species.
The work of conservation organisations such as Butterfly Conservation
or Buglife relies on accurate information to support their discussions with
an increasingly unsympathetic government. So becoming a ‘moth-er’ is
not only intellectually rewarding, but reveals the changing habits of a
common group of insects as well as supporting the arguments that are
essential to maintain the well being of our environment and perhaps
even the planet.
Jo Davis
....................................................................................................................
2011 Dumfries & Galloway Moth Update
2011 started with the first ever Checklist of Moths for Dumfries &
Galloway, which was published for local moth-ers in January and was
also available on our new web site www.dgmoths.org.uk as a
downloadable pdf file.
New micro-moth VC records totalled sixty: 23 in VC72, 13 in VC73 and
24 in VC74. It was a good year for migrants with 50 records of Rusty
Dot Pearl thirty records of Diamond-backed Moth and 26 records of
Rush Veneer, but the cream on the cake was of two pyralids and a
plume moth. The migrant pyralids were Spoladea recurvalis which was
trapped at MV on 1st October at Milton (VC73) and on the 4 th the same
person trapped Diasemiopsis ramburialis at the same site, both moths
being the second ever for Scotland. Two specimens were caught of the
migrant plume Crombrugghia laeta at different sites on Luce Bay
(VC74) but both on 8 th July.
Regarding macros, a first for Scotland was found in Mabie Forest on 27 th
July, Clay Triple-lines). A regular visitor from Hamilton caught the
second ever Scottish example of Tawny Pinion at Sandgreen on the
Solway coast (VC73), the first record being in 2009 at Glencaple (VC72).
Another second for Scotland was a Dingy Footman (abberation.
Stramineola) caught on Lochar Moss (VC72) on 9 th September.
Cloaked Carpet (3 rd record) and Shore Wainscot (3 rd record) were
caught at Mersehead RSPB and verified by Roy Leverton from
photographs. Southern Wainscot (six records, three previously) was
found at three sites, while Fen Wainscot was trapped on the Old Torr
side of Auchencairn Bay concurring with former sitings from the other
25 On the Spot – April 2012