Local officers: Sally Morris (Buglife), Lucy Atkinson (RSPB Scotland), Liz Peel (Butterfly Conservation), Cathryn Baillie (Bat Conservation Trust)
The summer of 2023 was a busy summer of surveying for Species on the Edge in Argyll and the Inner Hebrides. In April, we launched our citizen science project asking people to record sightings of oil beetles in Scotland, especially encouraging people to look out for the threatened short-necked oil beetle. In sunny April, stellar counts of short-necked oil beetles on Islay and Barra were found. We received the amazing news that they were found for the first time on Tiree, with five spotted by Ranger Hayley. After some rainy weather in the Inner Hebrides, the sun finally made way for us to survey lapwing and curlew on Islay and Colonsay to understand more about their distribution on these islands.
The sunny weeks at the end of May encouraged our moths to come out a little earlier than expected! Luckily our planned trip to Ulva with 20 volunteers was just in time to catch sight of some day-flying burnet moths, including the slender Scotch and transparent burnet moths which make their homes on the steep-sided cliffs on the island. As well as monitoring, we’re also supporting farmers on Mull and Ulva to manage their land for these species.
Into July and the great yellow bumblebees started to emerge. With their mainstay on Tiree, we also had a number of sightings on neighbouring Coll! We’ve also been island hopping on the lookout for the northern colletes solitary bee, learning more about their distribution and needs. Mid-summer saw us popping up at agricultural and community shows and it was great to see some of you there and sharing more about our special species.
Whilst many of our species surveys require sunny days, it is warm, still nights which our next species favour. As well as bringing out the midges, these nights are also perfect for spotting and recording one of their predators – bats! We have been leaving out audio recording equipment on Skye and will be analysing this over the next few months to see what species of bats we have managed to record!
Into September and whilst the adult butterflies had their flourish in early summer, the marsh fritillary caterpillars have emerged, feeding their way through their favourite plant, Devil’s-bit scabious. The caterpillars spin a protective web, and it is these which are counted to assess their populations. This species is susceptible to population fluctuations, but by early indications this has been a bumper year for them!
Whilst many of our species spend the winter hidden away, we welcome back the Greenland white-fronted goose to our shores, which have spent the summer breeding and raising young in Greenland. We will be helping to monitor those returning and sharing suitable habitat management for these geese which love to eat plant material including roots, shoots and leaves.
