It’s been another busy year for the Argyll and Inner Hebrides team! Let’s take a look at what they’ve been up to.
Species updates
Medicinal leech breeding suck-cess!
Kicking things off, our medicinal leech conservation programme with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland took a big leap in 2024, successfully breeding 20 baby leeches! These were from leeches taken originally from a site in Argyll. We’re hopeful that these leeches can be released in suitable lochs in the future, to boost their numbers in Scotland.
Summer surveys
On Skye and Islay, with support from SAC Consulting, we have been working with local crofters and farmers, undertaking wader surveys on their land. This has helped build our understanding of the distribution of curlew and lapwing in particular across Skye, with our surveys also supporting individuals with their agri-environment applications on both Skye and Islay.
Poor weather and high tides led to a poor breeding year for little terns in Scotland, with numbers down on last year on both Tiree and Islay. Thanks to all who noted our signs to keep dogs on a lead and keep your distance to help minimize disturbance to our important breeding sites. Up on Tiree, our RSPB colleague John spotted a little tern that had been rung. Through records, we found that this was an Irish-born chick originally rung just south of Dublin at Kilcoole in 2014, expanding our knowledge of where our Scottish breeding birds may be recruited from!
On Mull, we have established new annual monitoring for our transparent and slender Scotch burnet moths at two new sites; with three new sites on the island also monitoring for the marsh fritillary butterfly. We’ve continued our monitoring at previously surveyed sites, with 16 sites surveyed for transparent burnet; 5 sites surveyed for talisker burnet including an extensive survey of talisker burnet sites on Skye; 4 sites surveyed for slender Scotch burnet; monitoring of our New Forest burnet site; and 46 sites surveyed for marsh fritillary! Our records now cover 11 of the Inner Hebridean islands as well as mainland Argyll.
Thanks to all those who submitted records to our Scottish Oil Beetle Hunt which ran for its second year. We undertook 20 surveys on Tiree, Coll, Islay and Colonsay, for the short-necked oil beetle (SNOB). On Tiree we surveyed for SNOBs with the Tiree Ranger and the Edinburgh Young Walkers group, and through additional surveys we were able to confirm a second SNOB site on Tiree, following suspected SNOB larvae found in 2023 at Kilkenneth. This is in addition to them being found for the first time on the island last year at Vaul. Later in the summer, we undertook surveys for the SNOBs host species, the northern colletees mining bee, with eight surveys undertaken across Mull, Iona, Ardnamurchan, Colonsay and Coll, as well as our volunteer Roger exploring more potential sites on Islay. We also surveyed for our great yellow bumblebee on Coll and Tiree, with an increased number of queens found on Coll this year compared to 2023!
We have undertaken 18 in-person bat surveys this year. Building on our work in 2023, we revisited some sites to carry out more focused monitoring, looking at specific species, and explored new sites that feature in Bat Conservation Trust’s (BCT) National Bat Monitoring Programme. In addition to our in-person surveys, we have extended our Passive Acoustic Monitoring work this year to include the Argyll coast and the islands of Raasay, Mull and Islay. Whilst the results are not finalized yet, it is looking promising, and hopefully soon we can share the news that we have extended the known range of some of our Scottish species! We are now busy analysing our data and producing reports before we submit and map our results.
Habitat work
As well as monitoring for our species, we have been undertaking works to improve and create new habitat for our butterflies and birds. At Glengorm estate on Mull, we have installed 250 metres of new stock fencing for habitat management to benefit the slender Scotch and transparent burnet moths. We also ran three practical conservation days removing cotoneaster and bracken at two slender Scotch burnet sites.
On Islay, we partnered with Highlands and Islands Airports to create new nesting habitat for our threatened little tern on a disused section of runway. We are also supporting the local vets on the island with FECPAK testing of livestock for fluke and worms to reduce use of veterinary medications. This year has seen an increase in the number of farms using the service, helping us to reduce the use of veterinary medications which have a detrimental impact on invertebrate populations; a key food source for our resident-bird the Chough.
We have provided advice on marsh fritillary sites to six land managers and advised on transparent burnet habitat management to two land managers, as well as advising on wader management to nine land managers. We ran an event for Skye crofters, discussing waders and bats, species ID and survey techniques with the Farm Advisory Service. Additionally, we visited landowners in Appin, discussing managing land to benefit pollinators and bats.
Gardeners and landowners on the east end of Tiree have been sowing a local wildflower seed mix to provide late forage for great yellow bumblebees (GYBB), after it was identified that the densities of GYBB at the east end were lower than in other areas of Tiree. One landowner on Tiree is also fencing off an area of machair that is currently overgrazed in the summer, to improve the area for wildflowers which the GYBB feeds on!
Communities get stuck in for their local species
We have run a series of practical bat training sessions with volunteers, focusing on different survey techniques, with several volunteers also attending more specific training including BCT’s sound analysis workshop and an online bat care course. A more advanced bat ID workshop was also held for a local community group on Skye, and we invited the local community to celebrate bats with us on International Bat Night, with a public event at a local castle on Skye.
We ran SNOB training for Eigg rangers and volunteers and on Islay, and northern colletes training online and in-field with three volunteers on Mull. We also ran online training for marsh fritillary monitoring, with over 20 people attending, as well as training up seven volunteers in the field in monitoring techniques. ID events have also been held for slender Scotch caterpillars and adults, transparent burnet adults, marsh fritillary webs and adults, with 50 people attending. We delivered training to staff at three distilleries on Islay to increase their knowledge and ID skills of local wildlife to share with visitors.
With our four-person Argyll and Inner Hebrides team all living on different islands, it can be difficult to meet up as a team, but this year we managed it! We joined the University of the Highlands and Islands in Oban, celebrating the Clipper Round the world yacht race stopping off at the town. You may have also seen us at various Agricultural shows, or at the talks we have delivered to several groups including the Mull wildlife group, Mull camera club and the Helensburgh bird group. We joined Islay High School at their mini-COP, surveying for pollinators and sharing more on their importance in our ecosystem. We also built a bug-hotel with the summer school in Port Ellen and searched for bats with the Brownies and Rainbows. We have also hosted four events focussed on connecting with nature through getting creative – workshops on nature journaling, creative writing and willow weaving.
More still to come!
Summer might be over, but Species on the Edge in 2024 is not! Join us for one of our Winter Gatherings for Volunteers on Mull: 4-5 monthly events aimed at providing a social space, training, talks and planning for next year.
And if you want to be really organised, why not get a 2025 date in your diary now. Join us for a marsh fritillary (and other species) habitat management event in Argyll, aimed at landowners and managers – 28 March, 2025.
That’s a wrap!
A big thank you to all our volunteers, those who attended events, those have come and chatted with us at shows, and everyone who contributed to our successful summer of surveying and events!
Keep an eye on the Species on the Edge website, on our social media channels, and make sure you’re signed up to our mailing list to keep up to date with all programme news and updates over the coming months.
And remember, you can find out everything you need to know about Species on the Edge in Argyll and the Inner Hebrides on our area page, including our local target species, what we’re up to and how to get in touch with your local officers.
