Moth Survey in Glen Affric
As part of our project to document the biological diversity present in Glen Affric, David Barbour, an entomologist who specialises in Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), made a number of visits there between May and early October this year, to identify the species of moths present in the glen. Although the butterfly diversity there is well-known (a total of 16 species have been recorded there), no systematic surveys of moths had previously been carried out in Affric, and this represented a significant gap in the knowledge about this important pinewood area.
David set up light traps at night in several locations in the glen, and these attracted moths which are otherwise difficult to observe - most species are inactive during daylight hours, when they remain motionless on tree trunks or foliage. The moths in the traps were released the next morning, after they had been identified, and this work was complemented by daytime observations of the moths which fly then, and of caterpillars found on foliage etc.
Different species of moths are in flight at different times of the summer, and as most species have short life spans as adults, the repeated visits were necessary to provide an overall picture of the moth diversity. The greatest number of species were observed in July, when 94 species were recorded, while the surveys in May and August produced lists of 81 and 38 species respectively. On the final survey, on the 1st and 2nd of October, 30 species were recorded.
Some moths were observed on more than one of the visits, and some of the species were already on the list of species known from Affric. However, the bulk of the species had not previously been recorded in the glen, and as a result of the survey the moth list for Affric now stands at a total of 245 species. Most of these are common and widespread species, but a number of notable or rare species were also found, including the Satin lutestring, Scottish annulet and Pretty pinion moths. David was also able to confirm the continuing presence in the glen of the Rannoch sprawler (Brachionycha nubeculosa), which is a UK species of conservation concern. We're very grateful to Scottish Natural Heritage and Forest Enterprise for their financial support for the survey, and the full list of species recorded in the glen is now on our web site.
I accompanied David on a couple of his visits, and was able to photograph some of the more interesting species which were recorded. I also learned a lot about the ecology and life cycles of moths and took delight in discovering the exotic-sounding common names of some species, such as True lover's knot, Hebrew character and Sallow kitten! The survey results make an important addition to the knowledge of the biological diversity in Glen Affric, and we are planning to carry out a similar survey next year for beetles - another group of insects which have not had any systematic studies done on them in Affric.
Alan Watson Featherstone
Moths - related pages
- Moths occurring on Dundreggan
- Moths occurring in Glen Affric
- Dundreggan Moth Survey, 2006
- Glen Affric Moth Survey, 2003 (from Caledonia Wild! Winter 2003)
- The Rannoch brindled beauty moth
- The importance of Aspen for Lepidoptera
- The management of Invertromie Wood, Scotland's fourth largest stand of Aspen, with reference to Epione vespertaria, the Dark-bordered beauty moth
Return to Biological Diversity in Glen Affric
This article was written for the Winter 2003-04 edition of Caledonia Wild!
