Lothian Newsletter Spring 2014
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Lothians Newsletter Issue 6 Spring 2014 The Atlas project 2009-2014 This issue of the Lothians newsletter is dedicated to the final year of this national survey and the projected moth atlas and concerns the branch's desire to cover our area as thoroughly as possible. The butterfly species have been chosen as they are species found across the region, although in specific locations and hence will take a bit of hunting down. But what a feeling of triumph when finally found! You will recall that the Spring issue last year contained the data for some of the commoner species, namely Common Blue, Small Copper and Orange-tip. These analyses still stand and it would be good if you could get out and complete the recording of these species as well as the ones covered here. As in the previous issue, the red dots denote no records since 1999, the blue dots none since 2009 and the green dots that records have been returned for these squares for the period 2010 to 2014. The purpose of this article is to point out which squares still require records for the current recording period. The situation is that squares with old (or ancient) records should ideally get new records for the current period (2010-2014 inc.). I would be grateful if you could do your best to get records for some of these squares. I have given the times of year that the adults of each species are on the wing. Many thanks, Richard Buckland Contents Gaps in the current records for: Green Hairstreak; Dark Green Fritillary; Small Pearl- bordered Fritillary and Comma,..........….Duncan Davidson and Richard Buckland. The National Moth Atlas,.........................Mark Cubitt. Records map for Comma in the Lothians (flying in spring and late summer – Aug. - Sept.) The data for Comma is a good place to start, as there are just two squares in the Lothians that require new records. These are: square NT2050 which is just south of Pencuik and contains Auchencorth Moss. Also the adjacent square NT3050 which contains Gladhouse Reservoir and the Moorfoot Hills escarpment. The other under-recorded squares shown on he map are clustered in Borders region and need not concern us here, although if members wanted to go and help 'over the border' then I am sure the effort would be appreciated. The next species which requires more records is Green Hairstreak. Record map for Green Hairstreak in the Lothians, (which flies in May to early June). Again relatively few records are required to match those reported in previous years. The oldest record dates from 1996 and was at Hailes Castle near Haddington in East Lothian. The other area it has been recorded in the past and not recently, includes the outer reaches of West Lothian just west of Blackridge in NT8060. The same square as is lacking Comma records is also short of Green Hairstreak records. Namely NT3050. Record map for Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (flies in late June and July). There are some squares west of Edinburgh where SPBFs have not been recorded for over ten years. These are squares NT0070, which takes in the area just north of Livingston up to Linlithgow and square NT8070 taking in Slamannan, and only just in our area. There is another square just east of Edinburgh that needs a recent record, namely NT4080 with Gullane and Aberlady in it. Once again the square to the south of Edinburgh that includes Gladhouse Reservoir has no recent record of this species, namely NT3050. Another Fritillary that we need more records for is the Dark Green Fritillary. Record map for Dark Green Fritillary (peak flying time, July to early August). With DGF, a lot of squares still need checking out in the Lothians. These are: NS9060 to the west of Edinburgh and which contains Whitburn and Bathgate. Squares closer to town that lack recent records are: NT2070 which covers the whole of N Edinburgh (there is a record from Holyrood Park!): NT2060, with Penicuik and Glencorse Reservoir in it and the adjacent square NT1060, which contains Balerno and Threepmuir Reservoir. Squares to the east of Edinburgh lacking records are: NT3050, containing Middleton Moor and part of Gladhouse Reservoir: NT5070 which has Haddington and East Linton in it. Also, squares NT6080 and NT7070. The former includes part of the John Muir Park at Tyninghame, where they have been recorded in the past. Thankfully, the other squares shown in the map above are in the Borders! National Moth Recording Scheme Atlas Mark Cubbit Butterfly Conservation’s National Macro Moth Recording Scheme has recently announced that it plans to produce the Full Distribution Atlas in 2018 based on all data collected up to the end of 2016. That gives us just three seasons to ensure that we get the most representative coverage that we can for all 10km squares. Moth recording doesn’t have the heritage of the 5 year cycle of the butterflies for the millennium surveys and so this is really a one-off opportunity. There are a number of 10km squares in the region that don’t have a representative set of species recorded yet. This is where you can come in. We are looking for volunteers who can put out a loan trap every week or every fortnight in their garden and identify and count the moths caught. This would be from June through September. My vice county is East Lothian, for example and I am looking for volunteers in NT47 (includes Tranent and Aberlady village) or NT57 (includes Haddington and East Linton), but would consider other squares in East Lothian for this year or even next year. Other county moth recorders may also be interested in volunteers - look on this web page http://eastscotland- butterflies.org.uk/mothrecords.html to find their contact details. A trap would be provided and I could come across a few times through the year to help, but really need folk who will give it a go themselves and allow me and others to provide identification support by email or internet. Moth trapping is really very engaging, not least because there are so many species and that every week sees different species emerging. They also, for the most part, stay still once they have been caught in the trap allowing time for identification and also for photography. The latter allowing the sharing of pictures with experienced recorders to identify the unfamiliar ones. Mark Cubitt [email protected] 01506 843803 If you have received this newsletter by post, then I do not have your email address. I would appreciate it if you could forward a message to: [email protected]. I could then email it to you instead of posting it by surface mail. Thank you very much. Lep Events in the Lothians 2014 Richard Buckland Sun. 11 May. A Butterfly ID event at Vogrie Country Park. (Contact: Colin Whitehead and Barry Prater, 0131 4415036 and 018907 52037 resp.). See article in newsletter for more details. Sun. 22 June. A walk along the shore in the area of the East Barns Lighthouse to see Northern Brown Argus and Wall Brown. Meet at the visitor car park at Skateraw Harbour. (NT737755) at 10.30am. (Contact: Richard Buckland; mob. 07748271565). Sun. 29 June. Another trip to Easter Inch Moss outside Livingston to see the Small Pearl- bordered Fritillary colony there. Meet at the entrance to the moss at the Seafield end (NT566633) at 10.30am. (contact: as above). Sun. 20 July. Back to the South Esk at Gorebridge to see the first Lothians colony of Small Skippers ever recorded. Our leader is Chris Sydes who made the discovery. Meet at the car park to Gore Glen on the A7 out of Edinburgh (NT335618), 10.30am. Moth trapping on Fri/Sat 18/19 July. David Bryant will be our leader. Meet at the RSPB facilities at Skinflats on the River Forth, where he hopes to catch some estuarine moths. Set up traps on Friday 7-9pm. for an introduction to moth trapping and viewing the catch of a single trap from the previous night. View catch 9-11am Saturday, this will involve viewing a bigger catch (from more traps). (Contact:David Bryant, [email protected]). The RSPB Skinflats Office is at NS921859, near the Bowtrees roundabout. This is at end of the M876 motorway (J3). From here turn south along the A905. Turn left after 200m to the Powfoulis Hotel. The RSPB office is left at the T junction and then first right and on till the end. (See OS map no. 65). Butterfly Conservation is a non-profit making company limited by guarantee, registered in England (2206468). It is also a charity registered in England & Wales (254937) and in Scotland (SCO39268). Butterfly Conservation Scotland: Balallan House, Allan Park, Stirling FK8 2QG, tel. 01786 447753. .