GLEN LOY from www.discoverbutterflies.com the website Inverness-shire for the book Discover Butterflies in Britain © D E Newland Chequered Skipper at the bank of the River Loy in early June The River Loy is a tributary of This is open land owned by TARGET SPECIES the River Lochy and passes in a Cameron of Locheil, with Chequered Skipper (May/June), culvert under the Caledonian woodland managed mainly by Pearl-bordered Fritillary (May) Canal, north of Fort William. Its Forestry Commission Scotland. and Small Pearl-bordered unspoilt glen is some 7 miles A single-track tarmac road runs Fritillary (June). long, with its valley partly up the glen for about 4 miles, wooded and partly open with a small public car park country. The glen is home to owned by the Forestry strong butterfly populations, Commission at the top end. including the Chequered Skipper. Glen Loy was recognized as a good place to find Chequered Skippers in 1988. Lee Slaughter of Butterfly Conservation’s Cornwall Branch has written about how he came to discover the glen and his subsequent visit 10 years later in a fascinating article1. This led me to include the glen in my itinerary for a Scottish holiday in 2010. We stayed at the Glenloy Lodge Guest House, which is at the foot of the glen. This guesthouse is a centre for wildlife holidays. It is run by Jon and Angela Mercer, who had up-to-date information about all the wildlife in the region, including 1 Revisiting a colony of the Chequered Skipper butterfly in the Fort William region of the Western Highlands of Scotland during the summer of 2008, The Butterfly Observer, Cornwall Branch of Butterfly Conservation, Winter 2009 issue, pp 13-18. butterflies. So I was able to add to the advice in Lee’s article before setting out. Subsequently I had the benefit of a telephone conversation with Lee to check his specific locations precisely. The upshot is that I feel I have covered the ground quite thoroughly! On our way to Glen Loy, we visited Glasdrum Wood (31st May) and then, later, Allt Mhuic (2nd June) (both again, as we had been to both before and they are described in the book). But we had never been to Glen Loy, and were able to spend two half-days and one full-day there (1st-3rd June) enjoying the surroundings and looking for butterflies. I can thoroughly recommend a visit in early June. During our first afternoon in the glen, I began where I thought Chequered Skippers had been seen by Lee Slaughter near the road, and then at the head of the glen near the car park. The weather improved after a rainy start in the morning, and we had intermittent sunshine, but no sightings. So I decided to look for Pearl-bordered Fritillaries instead. Jon Mercer had suggested an open area of south-facing bracken-covered slope under the shelter of established woodland, mainly conifers, at NN 108846. But before I saw any of these, I found several Chequered Skippers sunning themselves on bracken stalks or drinking from bluebells. They were along the bank of a small burn flowing southwards, under the road and into the River Loy. By now it was 6 pm and several stayed with open wings, taking in the sunshine. The last of these was a female. As the sunshine weakened, they changed to a roosting pose from which they either suddenly flew off or dropped down to disappear into the dense bracken brash which covered the ground. The next day began seriously wet, so we explored the Caledonian Canal and Neptune’s Staircase (the succession of locks that leads up from Fort William) before driving through Spean Bridge and along to Allt Mhuic. This took us past the commando memorial where we stopped to look again at the figures on the memorial plinth. Some time ago, Richard Lewington (the noted butterfly illustrator and author) told me that the central figure looking towards Ben Nevis is modelled on his father. His father was one of the first commandos to go ashore at Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944. We were at the memorial almost 66 years to the day since this epic battle. When we got to the reserve, Allt Mhuic was almost as damp as it had been when I went there first 5 years before. Again I saw only a single Green Hairstreak. Forestry Commission staff carrying out a condition survey told me that a couple of Chequered Skippers had been seen before I arrived and that they could be expected in the damp area west of the ruined buildings at NN 120914 where bog myrtle is growing well alongside a small burn. However the weather remained damp and overcast and I had no sightings. We decided to return to the Glenloy Lodge for a cup of tea, when miraculously the weather improved so I went up the glen. After a quick survey of the ditch and surroundings (now based on specific grid references supplied by Lee Slaughter) gave only one or two sightings, I concluded that the density of occupation was evidently much smaller here now than it had been in 2008 when Lee last visited. With improving weather, I returned to yesterday’s successful site to try to obtain better pictures. Again there were several Chequered Skippers on the wing, basking or roosting with good opportunities for photography. In about an hour’s intermittent sunshine, I saw also two or three Pearl-bordered Fritillary and several Green Hairstreaks. Good weather continued throughout the following day, with warm, calm June conditions, and this provided the opportunity for a thorough search of the Glen. By exploring further afield, along the north bank of the River Loy, it emerged that a substantial colony of Chequered Skippers was spread all along at least a half-a-mile of the bank. I saw them first at NN 105844, and they were all along the river bank to at least NN 113837. It had been a very dry spring in the Glen, with little precipitation over the winter. The boggy ground found by Lee Slaughter was now dry enough to walk on in trainers, where he had said wellingtons were essential. I concluded that this had led the Chequered Skipper colony to migrate southwards towards the river, which was itself now running very low. I found that there a corridor only about 3m wide along the river bank was chosen. Within this narrow strip there would be a butterfly every 4 or 5 paces, usually on bluebells, but also basking on bracken or, occasionally, nectaring on the few other flowers that were in bloom. Sometimes there were several together on the same patch of bluebells. It is known that some Chequered Skippers, particularly egg-laying females, wander quite long distances, and Jon Mercer later reported that he had found smaller numbers all the way down the Glen, including in the garden of Glenloy Lodge. 2010 was undoubtedly a good year for the Chequered Skipper, but I am sure Glen Loy will reward a visit at this time of the year, and, although I did not concentrate on photographing them, Pearl-bordered and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries should also be found on the wing. Why Chequered Skippers are apparently doing well in the Western Highlands when they have become extinct (since 1976) in their former English breeding areas in Northamptonshire and Rutland remains a mystery. They fly in grassy woodland clearings and margins in central and northern Europe as far south as Greece and as far north as northern Scandinavia. The only visible sign of them in Northamptonshire is now the Chequered Skipper pub in Ashton, named by the late Miriam Rothschild, and equipped with a suitably ingenious pub sign. Forestry Commission sign at the entrance to Glen Loy Glen Loy looking towards Chequered Skipper and Pearl-bordered Fritillary habitat Favoured habitat on the bank of a small burn flowing Ditch alongside the road, looking down Glen Loy. This into the River Loy. View looking east down the Glen. ditch was dry when I visited in 2010. Chequered Skipper (m) basking in evening sunlight Chequered Skipper (m) basking in evening sunlight Chequered Skipper (f) on bluebell Chequered Skipper (f) Glen Loy looking east Glen Loy looking west with dry ditch on the left Glen Loy – Chequered Skipper habitat River Loy looking east Dried up stream alongside the course of the River Loy Chequered Skipper on bluebell alongside the River Loy Chequered Skipper (m) alongside the River Loy Lighter-coloured male Chequered Skipper Chequered Skipper (m) alongside the River Loy Chequered Skipper alongside the River Loy Forestry Commission car park at the head of Glen Loy Dried-up river bed, River Loy Commando memorial at Spean Bridge Glen Loy aqueduct notice board Green-veined White (female, f. thomsoni), River Loy, Glen Loy aqueduct June Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (f. insularum), Glen Caledonian Canal at dusk, looking north Loy, June Caledonian Canal looking south towards Ben Nevis Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk Moth on rhododendron at Glenloy Lodge Caledonian Canal Canal aqueduct, completed 1806 3 metre-wide farm tunnel under the aqueduct Road sign at the start of the glen Glenloy Lodge Hotel sign Pine Marten at Glenloy Lodge Small Heath, Glen Loy, June Neptune’s Ladder looking south Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Glasrum Wood, June Glenloy Lodge Hotel Chequered Skipper sign, Ashton, Northants, all that Chequered Skipper pub, not far from Ashton Wold, remains of the former English Chequered Skipper the home of the late Miriam Rothschild colonies LOCATION Explorer Map 399: Loch Arkaig, Fort William & Corpach Landranger (pink) Map 41: Ben Nevis The Glenloy Lodge Hotel, at the foot of Glen Loy, is at NN 145819 Its postal code is PH33 7PD Glen Loy runs initially north-west and then west from the River Lochy in the Western Highlands.