Here’s a look at what Sally, Cathryn and Liz have all been up to in Argyll and the Inner Hebrides since their last update. Spoiler alert… the team has grown by two!
We’re on the hunt for some beetles!
Species on the Edge and Buglife are again this year asking for records of oil beetles. Find our more about the Scottish Beetle Hunt and how you can get involved here: Scottish Oil Beetle Hunt | Buglife. Two of our team spotted 10 of one of our species on the edge – the short-necked oil beetle – on South Uist last week. They’re also know to be found on Tiree, Islay and Coll. Have you joined the hunt yet? Maybe they’ll turn up on a new island this year! Let us know if you find one 👀
We’ve also created new management advice leaflets made for the short-necked oil beetle and northern colletes mining bee. If you’re a land owner or manager that wants to learn more about how you can support these rare invertebrates on your land, get in touch and we’ll send you a leaflet.
Short-necked oil beetle surveys for 2025 are a-go! It’s looking like a bumper year so far, with new sites found on Barra by Bruce Taylor this April, and 57 individual beetles found at Vaul Bay on Tiree – the highest number ever recorded for this site, found by Tiree Ranger, Hayley Douglas.
We’re learning more and more about our bats
Cathryn and the team at Bat Conservation Trust have been busy analysing the recordings taken across four of our project areas during our bat monitoring work in 2024. It’s a lot of work and we want to get it right – we are potentially extending the known range of species in some places! We hope to have a full report to share very soon.
Cathryn has been travelling far and wide, providing training for Species on the Edge staff and volunteers around the country in preparation for this year’s bat monitoring work. One of her trips was to our team in Orkney! They had a busy few days: 10 AudioMoths (static bat detectors) were deployed in the hope of recording bats across Mainland and down to South Ronaldsay; they hosted a bat event for landowners; they delivered training sessions for Species on the Edge staff and volunteers; and they spoke to over 150 primary school children about bats and how they can look after them – the children were so enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and feedback from some of their parents was wonderful:
“My son came home and told me all about bats, he loved learning about them and really wants to join a bat walk now!” – parent of child at Dounby Primary School
“It’s so great to have something like this at the school, my son loves all things nature and was fascinated to learn about bats!” – parent of child at Dounby Primary School
Sounds like a fantastic and fruitful trip, Cathryn!
Cathryn also held a series of online bat workshops; how to identify some of our Scottish species and how to get involved with the Bat Conservation Trust’s National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP). At least one participant has purchased themselves a new bat detector, and several have already signed up to the NBMP!
Cathryn has also starred in another FAS TV video, talking about bats and why they matter. Check it our here:
And as if Cathryn hasn’t been busy enough, she has also been leading sessions with a group of young people on Skye, exploring ideas of some nature-focussed projects that they’re interested in developing and delivering. We can’t wait to hear how these ideas progress – we’ll keep you updated!
We’re continuing our work with farmers and crofters
We’ve continued to work closely with the Farm Advisory Service, delivering a multi taxa-workshop for crofters discussing why biodiversity matters and how biodiversity can benefit their businesses. This included a refresher on wader identification and how to submit records online.
In February, Liz gave a talk at the Scottish Crofting Federation crofters training day, with a focus on managing habitat for waders, the marsh fritillary butterfly, burnet moths and other pollinators.
This was followed in March by a workshop for landowners and managers at a farm near Appin where the land owners are actively managing their land for marsh fritillary. The workshop attendees got to learn more about the species and walk around the farm to see the habitat management in practice. They even saw some freshly emerged caterpillars!
Lastly, Liz has secured some additional funding to provide 10 ‘no fence’ cattle collars to the community on the Isle of Ulva. These will be used to direct the grazing of the cows over the autumn and winter and aid in the management of bracken on the slender Scotch burnet sites. An awareness-raising event is planned for July to share the details of the management method and explore the wider ecology of the island. Further down the road we will be hosting an event for landowners focusing on how to use these collars for habitat management.
Mull locals continued to show up for nature through the winter
Over the winter, volunteers from across the Isle of Mull came together at our monthly winter gatherings designed and led by a group of dedicated local lepidopterists. November saw a final moth Id session before the weather became too cold to moth trap. In December, one of our local Vice County recorders gave a talk on recording species, providing some insight into the history of species recording and how the data collected is used. And in January we kicked of the New Year with a talk on gardening for pollinators.
April saw the start of work-party season: volunteers got stuck back into a continuing job of trying to contain cotoneaster at a Slender Scotch Burnet site at Kilninian on the Isle of Mull.
We have two new team members!
Mhairi has joined us as a Biological Recording Trainee and Nick is our new Project Officer for Islay (Nick hasn’t actually started yet, but the contract is signed and his start date is imminent! We’ll introduce him properly once he’s settled in). Great to have you both on board!
Coming up…
We have lots of exciting things in the works for the summer months! For some of these events, the final details are still being ironed out, but we’ll let you know all the details as soon as we have them (sign up to our mailing list to make sure you’re kept in the loop). Here’s what we have coming up:
Discover your local bats workshop and walk, Knoydart, 22 May
Slender Scotch Burnet Work Party, Mull, 29 May
We will be running two days of moth and butterfly puppet-making, and then using the creations to have a go at some stop-motion animation!
We will be hosting series of workshops and sessions on the value of plants for pollinators, including a day at West Highland Herbs, learning about the uses of herbs, as medicines and as food-plants for both people and pollinators.
We will be running a Summer Solstice event in Dervaig Community Orchard focussed on wildflowers and their importance for pollinators. Join us and make your own mini wildflower pot!
Keep up to date
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 the local team.
