Borders Newsletter Autumn 2013 - East Scotland Brancheastscotland-butterflies.org.uk/downloads/Borders Newsletter Autumn... · Some Recording Highlights from 2013 As is always the

BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION East Scotland Branch

Issue 11

Welcome to the latest issue of the local Butterfly Conservation newsletter for people living in the Scottish Borders. Please pass it on to others and let me know of anyone who you think would like to be added to its circulation.

Barry Prater Tel 018907 52037 email [email protected]

Contents

Butterfly & Moth Conservation in the Borders ...........Barry Prater

Some Recording Highlights from 2013...................Barry Prater

The Reiver and the Herald Moths ....................Malcolm Lindsay

Arable Farms need not be Butterfly Deserts ....Barry Prater

Butterflies in the Deep South of the Borders .........Philip Hutton

Glenlude - a Rewilding Project in the Borders ..........Karen Purvis

History Corner Borders Recorders details [All photos are by the authors (except where otherwise noted) but not necessarily in their own articles]

Please write in with your articles and views. The next issue will go out in spring 2014. Email to me at the above address or by post to: 12 Barefoots Crescent Eyemouth, Berwickshire TD14 5BA

Autumn 2013

Butterfly & Moth Conservation in the Borders

We now have over 60 members of BC across the four Borders counties - about double the number of only five years ago! This continued growth in support during difficult financial times is really great and hopefully is happening because people both believe that our butterflies and moths are important and they see the good things done by Butterfly Conservation to promote and help them. I was given a copy of Patrick Barkham’s book ‘The Butterfly Isles’ a couple of Christmases ago. I am wary of reading anecdotal accounts of people dashing around the country ticking off species as they tend to be self-indulgent and do little for conservation. However, more recently I picked it up and read it from cover to cover. Patrick worked hard on his very successful project, and at some personal cost, but the topics which have stuck most in my mind relate to the technical and practical difficulties of implementing positive conservation measures for butterflies. There are stories of misguided work aimed at conservation which has actually damaged populations of the Duke of Burgundy and of changes in grazing regimes which were a disaster for the Heath Fritillary. Then there is the real world obstacle of ensuring that developers on site comply with the conditions imposed when they are perhaps working under pressure in a difficult and remote environment. And on top of all this there is the ever-present threat of climate change making sites no longer suitable for species however well they are managed. On a more positive note, we’ve experienced a great summer at last and our Lepidoptera, especially the butterflies, have put on a good show over the last three months. The coming winter months give us time to take stock of what’s been achieved during this year (do please send in all your records) and to develop our plans for 2014. As the notes on the next page show, much can be discovered every year in our part of the country and there is scope for everyone to contribute.

Many thanks to all the contributors to this issue.

Barry Prater

Borders Newsletter

Painted Lady

www.eastscotland-butterflies.org.uk/

http://www.facebook.com/EastScotlandButterflyConservation

Butterfly Conservation is a non-profit making company limited by guarantee, registered in England (2206468). It is also a charity

registered in England & Wales (254937) and in Scotland (SCO39268). Butterfly Conservation Scotland can be contacted at Balallan

House, Allan Park, Stirling FK8 2QG, Tel 01786 447753.

Some Recording Highlights from 2013

As is always the case, the story is incomplete at this time of the year, but there have again been many

notable records of butterflies and particularly of moths across the Borders.

Small Blue

� both the colonies at the coast appear from visits this year to be in good health

Green Hairstreak

� discovered at Din Moss SWT reserve by Julian Warman, Sam Purkis et al. - a new site for the species

and certainly the furthest east in the Borders

� the Avenel Hill colony near Galashiels has been found to be much more extensive than previously

thought (Iain Cowe & Malcolm Lindsay)

Small Skipper

� as well as being now firmly established in eastern Berwickshire and spreading generally in the Borders,

a strong colony has been located on the edge of Galashiels golf course (Malcolm Lindsay)

Large Heath*

� a new site located at Burrowstown Moss, which straddles the border with Dumfries & Galloway (Philip

Hutton)

Clouded Yellow

� 1 spotted flying at the coast above Lumsdaine Shore (Iain Cowe)

Moths

It’s been a spectacular summer for the group of keen moth-ers across the Borders, with many new vice-county

records scattered across Peeblesshire, Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire and Berwickshire and even a new species

for Scotland. Amongst the exciting findings have been:

Barred Carpet Light Knot Grass Broad-bordered White Underwing* Marsh Oblique-barred Cloaked Pug Marsh Pug Clouded Brindle Oak Nycteoline Galium Carpet Ruddy Highflyer Golden-rod Brindle September Thorn Haworth’s Pug** Small Chocolate-tip* Heart and Club Small Yellow Wave Large Red-belted Clearwing Straw Underwing

* these are priority species in BC’s Regional Action Plan for East Scotland (see http://eastscotland-

butterflies.org.uk/actionplans.html )

** first validated Scottish record of this species which is not known north of the Lake District.

Haworth’s Pug (Barry Prater) Small Chocolate-tip (Malcolm Lindsay’s photo of

Teyl de Bordes’ discovery)

The moth records listed have come from Nick Cook, Malcolm Lindsay, Barry Prater, Teyl de Bordes, Derek

Ogston, David & Annabelle Skinner, James & Julia Edey and David Long.

September Thorn (Nick Cook)

The Reiver and the Herald Moths

Malcolm Lindsay, Galashiels

Elibank Castle

Muckle-mou’d Meg - wood sculpture at Thornylee

I wondered what part the Herald moths might have played in the story. Perhaps their beauty in the midst of

darkness influenced Wat’s decision? . . . . . . . . . .

The Reiver’s Heralds

Thrown into the bowels of grim Elibank

the walls of his cell stood cold and dank

as he lay in that dungeon of pain and sorrow

and thought of the choice he must make on the morrow

To marry the maid so plain of face

or leave this world with little trace

He crawled that hole through dripping night

searching the walls with candle light

In the first few days of January each year I like

to visit the ruins of Elibank Castle, the 17th

century home of Sir Gideon Murray, situated

high above the southern bank of the Tweed

near Walkerburn.

There, in alcoves and crevices in the thick walls, can

be found winter-hibernating Herald moths. Viewed by

torchlight they are a lovely sight in their red and

amber colours, often beautifully covered with beads

of condensation.

Elibank Castle is the scene of a great Borders

legend. A neighbouring reiver, Wat Scott, raided the

castle and made off with Sir Gideon’s cattle.

However he was caught and imprisoned in the

dungeon of Elibank to await hanging. Sir Gideon’s

wife intervened. Aghast at the prospect of such a

fine and handsome young man being hanged, Lady

Murray pled with her husband to spare Wat’s life.

The bargain for his release should be marriage to

their ugly daughter, Muckle-mou’d Meg, whose

appearance had repelled all previous suitors. Wat

spent the night considering the choice and in the

morning chose to marry Meg. And, of course, he

found love in a long and happy marriage!

hibernating Herald Moths

No chink could he find in their cruelty strong

when he saw a scene which did not belong

amongst the stones, a wondrous creation

of oranges and reds in damp condensation

Creatures in slumber whose bed he had found

the Herald moths in sleep so sound

He pondered that scene for many a while -

that beauty does hide in places vile!

By dawn he knew resolve complete

and rose Sir Gideon to meet

“I’ll marry your Meg of face so plain

and I’ll see a rainbow beyond the rain”

And he found his Meg was happy and gay

who shone so bright on their every day

as love grew strong on the Border hill

in a marriage long and scarcely ill

And through his long life Wat was oft heard to quoth

“I thank thee, O Lord, for the Herald moth”

[The tale is wonderfully told in the verses of a Borders ballad “The Frey of Elibank” by the

Ettrick Shepherd, James Hogg.]

Arable Farms need not be Butterfly Deserts

Barry Prater, Eyemouth

This year the RSPB launched a project in East Berwickshire with the ambitious aim of determining how bird populations respond to environmental management measures across a number of arable farms. While their primary interest is naturally with the birds (Tree Sparrow, Skylark, Yellowhammer, etc) they invited Butterfly Conservation to also look at the butterflies and I undertook to survey Clarabad Farm near Paxton over the summer months.

Spring Barley was the only crop on the farm this year, but there are also areas with mown grassland and some are grazed by sheep later in the year. Important parts of the environmental management on the farm in its Rural Development Contract are having wide grass margins to fields, maintaining species-rich grassland and planting wild bird cover and it was these areas that were concentrated on for the butterfly survey.

Large Skipper

After the long, cold spring it has to be said that I

didn’t have high hopes and my first survey day in early

June seemed to bear out my concerns; although it was

sunny and 19o C, all but one of the butterflies seen

were either Small or Green-veined Whites. However,

the sighting of a single Wall hinted that things might

get better if summer eventually arrived. I was right to

become more optimistic, because my next visit at the

beginning of July was much more encouraging. I found

Large Skippers along the margins of five of the ten fields walked - 14 individuals in total. This is a species

which, until very recently, had only a tenuous

foothold north of the border, with hardly any records prior to 1997, but it now seems to have become firmly

established in SE Berwickshire, spreading through

farmland along the Whiteadder and also up the Tweed

as far as Coldstream. There are now numerous records

each year from this area of the Borders.

Small Skipper There seems little doubt that the wide expanses of the grassy field margins are of considerable benefit to the two skippers, both of which use wild grasses as caterpillar foodplants. These margins will also provide corridors along which the butterflies can spread and this interconnected area containing suitable breeding habitat seems ideal. There has also been the opportunity to look for moths - both day-fliers during the survey periods and moth-trapping in a wooded patch overnight. Active by day were Chimney Sweepers in the species-rich grassland and the dainty Cocksfoot Moth nectaring on whatever it could find. Visitors to the moth trap included the strange-looking Chinese Character and the stunning Merveille du Jour.

Chinese Character Merveille du Jour

So, the Merse has given up some more secrets and in so doing has tempered my possibly prejudiced views about arable farmland and wildlife. Some of the good news must surely be down to the way this farm is managed. My thanks to Ian and Tina Wightman at Clarabad for their welcoming attitude and interest in the survey work.

Less than three weeks later, following exactly the same route through the farm, no Large Skippers were to be seen; instead it was the Small Skipper which won the day - this time there were 19 individuals scattered amongst six field margins and a further 18 in an area not covered by the survey. While the Large Skipper may have always been present around here in very low numbers, the Small Skipper is definitely a new arrival, with the first Borders record in 2006, and it is now widespread across a large swathe of the Borders from the coast to beyond Selkirk and to the south of Hawick. It has also spread much further afield to Aberlady and perhaps beyond.

Cocksfoot Moth

(wingspan 6-9 mm)

Butterflies in the Deep South of the Borders

Philip Hutton, Newcastleton

I decided to make a photographic record of the local flora on retiring in 2007 when my three daughters clubbed together and gave me a digital camera and eventually I got more interested in moths and butterflies. My wife also helps with taking photos and quite often spots something interesting if we split up, such as a High Brown Fritillary when in the Morecambe Bay area.

In August 2010 my wife and I went on a trip to Floors Castle gardens where we came across the only Comma we have seen so far in the Borders. Where we live, at Newcastleton, we are about three miles from the Cumbria border and we have seen the odd one just over the border.

Comma Green Hairstreak

On 1st May 2011 we set off to visit a site, again close to the border in Cumbria, where I had been told there was bog bilberry growing, so not having encountered this species before we decided to take a look. I have found that if you are looking for plants or insects in your own patch it is advantageous to see them first where they are known to be present so you know what to look for at home; also you can study the habitat and make comparisons. To cut a long story short there was also a strong colony of Green Hairstreaks on the site. I feel confident that there are also colonies in our Castleton Parish where they seem to pop up fairly regularly.

Large and Small Whites, Orange-tip and Green-veined Whites are common here, the latter flying April to September; Ringlets are abundant and Small Heaths common in grassy areas. Dark-green Fritillary, Common Blue and Meadow Brown present on the disused Waverley Line and also forest roads. Large Skipper and Small Copper not often seen, Painted Ladies appeared in the garden on 30th May 2009 and were frequent all that summer. There are Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries close by in Cumbria but not seen this side of the Border recently. This year Peacocks have done OK and I even saw one at 1000ft in February. Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admirals have only been seen in small numbers.

We have a Large Heath colony at 1000ft on a bleak, windswept site (Burrowstown Moss) on the Dumfriesshire Border. This is a little way from another known site, and no doubt there are other Large Heath colonies to be discovered in this area.

Burrowstown Moss Large Heath

Glenlude: a Rewilding Project in the Scottish Borders

Karen Purvis, Conservation Ranger, introduces the John Muir Trust’s smallest property and shows how rewilding work there is benefitting people as well as moths and butterflies. It’s been an exciting and busy year at Glenlude, the John Muir Trust’s smallest property located four miles south of Traquair, in the heart of the Scottish Borders. Bequeathed to the Trust by the late Sheila Bell in 2003, the 140ha (345 acre) property is half covered in forestry plantation. The other half consists of dwarf shrub heath, heather and acid grassland that was last grazed in 2000, some small areas of blanket bog, an aspen stand and a strip of riparian woodland – mostly willow carr with some birch, rowan and hawthorn at the northern end of the estate.

Over the next couple of decades we will gradually restructure the spruce and larch plantation and reinstate native species to create a mosaic of habitats across the estate for a wide range of flora and fauna. The plantations were planted in 1995 and are not yet ready for harvesting. Meanwhile, we have started thinning and removing any trees that are doing poorly, creating glades and pockets of deciduous woodland within the plantations. This will re-establish ground flora and with it insect life as well as local seed sources for when we fell for timber. The felling will be done by hand with extraction by horses to minimise soil and vegetation damage. We have also been planting trees in some of the open areas of the estate and will continue to do so, thereby extending the small areas of established woodland. Fantastic volunteers We have a fantastic army of volunteers at Glenlude including: long term Trust members, schools & colleges, John Muir Award participants, people undergoing conservation therapy and many conservation bodies – including local members of Butterfly Conservation – who are all making a valuable contribution to our rewilding project. Our first recording of moths was set up in September 2011 by Reuben Singleton who runs Tweed Ecology in Peebles. His moth trap attracted 91 moths, representing 19 different species. Our knowledge of moths and butterflies increased dramatically in October 2012, when Barry Prater first came to walk around Glenlude. Unusually it didn’t rain that day and we spent a good few hours checking out the different habitats and various species of butterfly larval food plants that we have. Barry provided us with a huge amount of advice, suggesting reference books, moth traps and where to get them, what species to look for, when and where to look for them - as well as a list of local people who’d be interested in monitoring and moth-trapping at Glenlude.

Ruddy Highflier (Teyl de Bordes)

Regular trapping Following on from this evening (and thanks to the Highflyer discovery) Teyl took up the gauntlet and has been trapping regularly at the willow bank with some excellent results including Scarce Silver Y, Treble-bar and Udea decrepitalis – a micro that lives on ferns near to water and is rare in this area.

Teyl has also been patiently acting as my mentor as I’ve been learning the ropes here and at home in the Ettrick Valley. I can still recall the overwhelming horror of opening the moth trap on the morning of my first solo venture with everything escaping – and getting into a huge muddle of tubes, moths and midges. I think Teyl was just waiting for the panic phone call which he duly received. Fortunately I’ve learnt a lot since then and can now tell the difference between a Green Carpet and a Barred Yellow and slowly navigate my way through my field guide book. Over the summer we’ve also caught many others including: Red-necked Footman, numerous Antler Moths and Double Darts – but I’m still looking out for the Scallop Shell that Malcolm has challenged me to catch in the willow carr by the river. August saw us co-hosting a National Moth Night evening at Glenlude. Led by Malcolm, we had a good gathering with people coming from as far as Glasgow to learn more about the mysterious art of moth trapping. After a slow start this proved to be a very interesting and successful evening with 22 different species recorded, nine of these were new to Glenlude with four also being new to NT32 (Northern Spinach, Twin-spot Carpet, Scalloped Oak and Minor Shoulder Knot).

Chevron getting moths identified on National Moth Night I’d like to take this opportunity to say a huge thanks to all who have been involved at Glenlude to date. We’ve had a successful summer and made a great start to listing the moths we have here on Glenlude and in the Ettrick Marshes. We’re planning more events for next year including one aimed at children during the summer holidays and I’m hoping that we can carry on adding to the list of moths as we still have as yet un-trapped habitats on site. We will also have butterfly transects set up for regular monitoring throughout the season. To find out more, please email me at [email protected] – I very much look forward to hearing from you. See a list of species spotted at Glenlude at www.jmt.org/glenlude-management-plan.asp and the article from Reuben’s initial trapping session at http://www.jmt.org/news.asp?s=2&cat=Land&nid=JMT-N10594

This led to an evening of trapping in June 2013 with Malcolm Lindsey, Teyl de Bordes, Douglas Methven and Arthur Martin. A disastrous haul due to unusually cold conditions was saved by a Knot Grass and a Ruddy Highflier trapped by Teyl in the willow carr at the northern end of the property. Malcolm said of the Ruddy Highflier find: “Food plant – Eared Willow; a moth with a mainly western distribution, only nine previous Borders records and only two known current Borders sites before this one, so a very high quality moth.” This was good result and there were repeat catches of this species.

History Corner

If you’ve seen it, report it..........

Below are the people to whom you should send your sightings of moths or butterflies during 2013. If you come across something which you think is unusual or interesting then do get in touch quickly as others will like to hear about it, but you still need to send in records to the various people listed to make sure they get logged. You can also publicise your sightings through the forums on the branch website

www.eastscotland-butterflies.org.uk/

or on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/EastScotlandButterflyConservation The work of recorders is made a little easier if records are sent in from time to time during the year rather than all together at the end.

The Borders County Moth Recorders

Peeblesshire: Reuben Singleton, 5 Frankscroft, Peebles, Scottish Borders EH45 9DX [email protected] Tel: 01721 723858

This fascinating card, dating from

1882, recently turned up in a box of

postcards at an antique fair. While the

reverse lists an interesting programme

of events for the Berwickshire

Naturalists’ Club during the summer of

that year, it was the name on the front

which caught my eye. William Shaw

was one of a handful of keen

lepidopterists who were active in the

Borders around the 1870s and 1880s.

To quote from one of Albert Long’s articles of the late 1950s: “William Shaw was a self-taught naturalist, who was at one time a ploughman in Eyemouth. His first published record, made in 1872, was of Camberwell Beauty butterflies, Nymphalis antiopa, seen at Eyemouth. He had the luck to take some rarities such as the Silver Striped Hawk, White Satin, Dotted Rustic, Red Underwing and Clifden Nonpareil.” He subsequently moved to Galashiels, where he continued his butterfly and moth recording, finding Large Skipper, Death’s Head Hawkmoth, Light Knot Grass, Grey Scalloped Bar and even the Heath Rivulet, which he described as “very common on some of the moors”.

Selkirkshire: Malcolm Lindsay, Burn House, Mossilee Road, Galashiels TD1 1NF [email protected] Tel: 01896 753425 Roxburghshire: Andy Fitchett, 1 The Croft, Nether Blainslie, Galashiels TD1 2QF [email protected] Tel: 01896 860643 & Jeff Waddell, 33 Eildon View, Dingleton, Melrose, Roxburghshire TD6 9RH [email protected] Tel: 01896 822089 Berwickshire: Barry Prater, 12 Barefoots Crescent, Eyemouth, Berwickshire TD14 5BA [email protected] Tel: 018907 52037

& the East Scotland Butterfly Recorder

Duncan Davidson, 140 Pitcorthie Drive, Dunfermline KY11 1HG [email protected] Tel: 01383 730446 There is guidance on submitting your butterfly and moth records on the branch website and also some recording forms which you can use - these help enormously when collating all the records.

Do you want to join Butterfly Conservation? If you’re not already a member of Butterfly Conservation and would like to join the growing group of interested people in the Borders, you can easily do this on line here: http://butterfly-conservation.org/90/join.html Hope to hear from some of you soon! Barry Prater