Winter e-newsletter December 2019 Photos Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Contributions to our newsletters Dates for your Diary & Winter Workparties....2 Borage - Painted Lady foodplant…11-12 are always welcome. Scottish Entomological Gathering 2020 .......3-4 Lunar Yellow Underwing…………….13 Please use the contact details Obituary - David Barbour…………..………….5 Chequered Skipper Survey 2020…..14 below to get in touch! The Bog Squad…………………………………6 If you do not wish to receive our Helping Hands for Butterflies………………….7 newsletter in the future, simply Munching Caterpillars in Scotland………..…..8 reply to this message with the Books for Sale………………………...………..9 word ’unsubscribe’ in the title - thank you. RIC Project Officer - Job Vacancy……………9 Coul Links Update……………………………..10 VC Moth Recorder required for Caithness….10 Contact Details: Butterfly Conservation Scotland t: 01786 447753 Balallan House e: [email protected] Allan Park w: www.butterfly-conservation.org/scotland Stirling FK8 2QG Dates for your Diary Scottish Recorders’ Gathering - Saturday, 14th March 2020 For everyone interested in recording butterflies and moths, our Scottish Recorders’ Gathering will be held at the Battleby Conference Centre, by Perth on Saturday, 14th March 2020. It is an opportunity to meet up with others, hear all the latest butterfly and moth news and gear up for the season to come! All welcome - more details will follow in the New Year! Highland Branch AGM - Saturday, 18th April 2020 Our Highlands & Island Branch will be holding their AGM on Saturday, 18th April in a new venue, Green Drive Hall, 36 Green Drive, Inverness, IV2 4EU. More details will follow on the website in due course. Scottish Members’ Day - Saturday, 3rd October 2020 We will be holding our annual Scottish Members’ Day at Battleby Conference Centre by Perth on Saturday, 3rd October 2020. More info will follow in due course. Winter Workparties Bog Squad: Bog Squad Workparty - Scrub clearance at Wester Moss by Stirling - Saturday, 11th January 2020 Bog Squad Workparty - Scrub clearance at Abronhill in Cumbernauld - Saturday, 25th January 2020 Bog Squad Workparty - Scrub clearance at Kirkconnell Flow by Dumfries - Saturday, 22nd February 2020 For more information please go to www.butterfly-conservation.org/bogsquad or contact David Hill [email protected] South West Scotland: Carrick Workparty for Northern Brown Argus - Wednesday, 8th January Mabie Forest Workparty for Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Sunday, 23rd February For more information please go here BC Events in Scotland Don’t forget to check out our website at www.butterfly-conservation.org/scotland as well as your local Branch website for up-to-date lists of fieldtrips, events etc: Highlands & Islands - https://butterfly-conservation.org/in-your-area/highlands-and-islands-branch South & West Scotland - https://butterfly-conservation.org/in-your-area/glasgow-and-sw-scotland-branch East Scotland - https://butterfly-conservation.org/in-your-area/east-scotland-branch N.B These are usually compiled over the winter months for the following season. __________________________________________________________________________________ 2 Scottish Entomological Gathering SEG 2020 For those who have not heard of or attended a SEG before they are just as they sound. A gathering of Scottish entomologists who meet up over a weekend once a year and get out in the field and record invertebrates. They are obviously also very enjoyable and sociable as well as being informative with many of the great and good of Scottish entomology in attendance. However, in recent years SEG has proved more difficult to organise often being undertaken at the last minute. Therefore, in order to ensure that this valuable event continues and is planned well in advance so attendees have chance to put the date in their diaries, the following people have put their heads above the parapet to ensure that SEG 2020 and beyond happens. Their role is to ensure that SEG happens as smoothly and timely as possible rather than organising every subsequent SEG! Suzie Burgess [email protected] David Hill [email protected] Tom Prescott [email protected] James Silvey [email protected] We therefore seek volunteers to organise future SEGs as well as welcome ideas of where future SEGs could be held, ideally in previously unvisited parts of Scotland and with suggestions of suitable venues and accommodation rather than simply a location. To help this task the map below shows where every SEG is believed to have been held. This is also set out in the table below. 3 Scottish Entomological Gathering Year Location Month Year Location Month 1981 Lagganlia, Kincraig early May 2001 Speyside* July 1982 The Barony, Ae, Dumfries early July 2002 Inchnadamph mid August 1983 Rowardennan FC end June 2003 Cromarty late June 1984 Ballater end June 2004 Crianlarich * 1985 Firbush Centre, Loch Tay mid June 2005 Newton Stewart late June 1986 Kindrogan SFSC end June 2006 Kingussie late June 1987 Achnamara early July 2007 Jedburgh late June 1988 Tarradale mid June 2008 Forfar late June 1989 Rowardennan early Sept 2009 Auchincruive, Ayr early August 1990 Rum mid June 2010 Claonaig, Kintyre late June 1991 Galashiels mid June 2011 Corrour mid June 1992 Loch Eil FC early July 2012 Cupar (Fife) mid July 1993 Edzell early July 2013 Dundonnell late June 1994 Bettyhill FC, Invernaver mid August 2014 Caerlaverock late June 1995 Auchencruive, Ayr* early July 2015 Oban end June 1996 St John’s Town of Dalry end June 2016 Ballater mid June 1997 nr Tobermory late June 2017 Eyemouth early June 1998 Strathconnan late June 2018 Rowardennan mid June 1999 Shiskine, Arran late June 2019 Lagganlia, Kincraig mid August 2000 Ardeonaig FC, Loch Tay end June 2020 Dundreggan end June *venue or date uncertain The map clearly shows areas of Scotland that have not been visited along with those that have hosted the event on more than one occasion. Obvious missing locations included; Aigas FC Loch Tay reed beds Beinn Eighe Moray Firth coast Bute Morvern Dunbar area Peebles Flow Country Shin Valley/Spinningdale Fort William Skye Gairloch South Fife coast Glen Affric/Strathfarrar Stirling Islay Tongue/Durness Lanark For 2020, we have been in talks with Trees for Life at their Dundreggan Reserve near Glenmorriston and have booked their self-catering accommodation that takes up to 16 people for the weekend of the 26th-28th June. It is also possible to camp and there are various B&Bs and guest houses in the general area. Due to data protection, previous lists of SEG attendees have not been kept and the only list we have are those who either attended or showed interest in attending SEG 2029. They have already been informed of these plans. So if this is the first you have heard of these plans for SEG 2020 you are not on our list. So please get in touch if you want to be added to our list, wish to participate in SEG 2020, want to stay in the accommodation we have booked as rooms will be allocated on a first come first served basis, or have suggestions for future SEGs. Any queries/suggestions please contact any or all of us Many thanks Suzie, David, Tom & James 4 Volunteer News David Barbour 1950 – 2019 It is very sad to have to report that David, one of Butterfly Conservation Scotland’s most active and respected volunteers and recorders, has died. David will be known to most as the Highland Butterfly Recorder, a role he held for over twenty years (1997 – 2017). In that time it is estimated he oversaw the submission of over 88,000 butterfly records to the Butterflies of the New Millennium (BNM) project, including around 7,400 of his own records. He was always an extremely thorough and conscientious BNM Co-ordinator, who ensured that butterfly records from both residents and visitors to the Highlands were accurately and carefully verified. These records contributed to The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland, all four of the State of Britain’s Butterflies reports that BC has published, and numerous analyses and scientific papers that have charted the fortunes of our butterflies and the drivers of change over the past 20+ years. After leaving Aberdeen University butterflies and moths became the basis of his professional life working for Forestry Commission and then as an independent entomologist specialising in the cyclical populations of forest “pests” including Pine Beauty and Bordered White. More recently he was involved in determining the status of the recently discovered population of Pine-tree Lappet in David presented with his favourite tipple at the BCS Spring the Highlands. Recorders’ Gathering in 2018 after 21 years as Highland Butterfly Recorder - photo by Jim Asher He also worked on several of Scotland’s rare and iconic species including Small Dark Yellow Underwing and Kentish Glory. However, it was the New Forest Burnet that became his main interest, monitoring the remote and isolated population on the west coast for sixteen years. In 2008 David was the leader author of the Atlas of Butterflies in Highland and Moray that maps the changing distributions of the region’s butterflies at 5km resolution. However, it is more than a series of maps as it contains some excellent and very useful identification tips on separating confusing species e.g. Small and Pearl-bordered Fritillary, and Large from Small Heath – mostly based on features gleaned by David’s experience in the field. He latterly moved to Perth where his excellent fieldcraft and knowledge was instrumental in the rediscovery of Pearl-bordered Fritillary in the Loch Katrine area. David’s hard work and dedication is highlighted by his former role as Highland Butterfly Recorder which is now taken on by eleven different recorders. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.