By Tracy Munro, Species on the Edge East Coast Project Officer (Butterfly Conservation)
It has been a pleasure to watch the Nairn Small Blue Group go from strength to strength over the past year. Looking back just a few years, several members had never even seen a small blue butterfly. Today, they are confidently monitoring their local areas for the species, leading guided walks for local communities, and even discovering new sites.
Their enthusiasm has also grown beyond small blue. In 2025 and 2026, the group contributed to Kentish Glory surveys in the Culbin area, expanding both their skills and their impact. Through funding from Species on the Edge, we have also been able to support the group by purchasing moth traps and a wide range of butterfly and moth identification resources, helping them continue to develop their knowledge and expertise.
The group are collaborating closely with the NICE Dune Restoration project at Nairn central beach, providing expert local knowledge and helping to engage the wider community. One member of the group, Peter, has been putting his trap to full use, he said “I am currently collating species lists for the Nairn Golf Club biodiversity project. The moth trap, especially, has been a tremendous help in adding moth species to the master list for the course. The ID books also greatly assist in confirming the identification of the moths caught.”
I am delighted that the future of small blue in the Nairn area looks to be in safe hands after Species on the Edge comes to an end. The group’s passion, knowledge and commitment have created a strong foundation for the conservation of this wee butterfly.
One of the group’s members, Gareth, has captured his moff-ing journey perfectly:
“One of the moth traps from the Nairn Small Blue Groups has been well-travelled these last few weeks; it’s had a few overnights in my back garden as I attempt to improve my own moth ID. It had a night in sand dunes on Nairn’s central beach as part of a NICE Dune Restoration Day, and it’s had some nights out at Loch Ruthven in some hidden away areas.
Our enthusiastic Ruthven group are all relatively new to moths so many thanks to Species on the Edge for not only the use of a Moth trap but also some very user-friendly ID guides that have proved invaluable trying to differentiate “the little brown ones” (ingrailed clay I’m looking at you…). Butterfly Conservation’s “What’s Flying tonight” page has also proved popular for focussing in on what we can expect to find. After marvelling at the sheer number of moths we seem to trap at Ruthven and IDing and noting down some of the regulars, we have been taking pictures of unknown moths and sharing the pictures with everyone. In this way the “unknown folder” rapidly depletes as we all become a little more confident in our IDing skills.
A couple of the fledgling moth trappers have a wonderfully deep knowledge of the birdlife in Scotland, but this is their first experience with moths and trapping, which so far has been great fun, if a little daunting!”
