Where are our Butterflies and Moths? Barry Prater Butterfly Conservation East Scotland

Do we know where they are? We have around 7 million butterfly records and over 15 million moth records So the answer must be “yes”?

About Butterfly Conservation the clue’s in the name not another natural history society but recording is an essential basis for conservation actions

Butterflies v. Moths Butterflies Moths day-flying weather conditions ID mostly easy counts meaningful presence/absence abundance trends mostly nocturnal ID can be tricky counts arbitrary presence/absence techniques have changed

Butterflies just 15 minutes anywhere 94,000 people took part over past three years 1.5 million butterflies counted on-line reporting

Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey just 2 counts along 2 routes random 1km square

Butterfly transects Where are they? How are they done?

Butterflies – UK abundance trends species 10-year trend (% change)* Orange-tip -8 Small Copper -24 Dark Green Fritillary +18 Green Hairstreak -27 Common Blue -30 Scotch Argus -33 Grayling Meadow Brown *2005-2009 v 1995-1999

Northern Brown Argus

Butterfly timed count Site map findings NOTES Species Life stage Count 1 No. seen Minutes searched Northern Brown Argus Adult 59 90 NOTES Date around time for peak numbers to be present, so count significantly higher than in 2012. The colony appears to be stable. Most of the butterflies (54) were in two areas at the east end of the cleugh with the remainder scattered in other areas.

Priorities – Regional Action Plan The Plan The Maps

Small Blue butterfly projects Small Blue records 1948-1989 Small Blue records 2007-2013

Small Blue conservation 2008 2010 Kidney Vetch is sole larval foodplant - monocarpic requires shelter + some long grass early successional habitats site management and extension may be tricky

Green Hairstreak moorland sites with blaeberry flies in May

Green Hairstreak 1995-1999 occupied 10km squares from Millennium Atlas with older records in blue 2000-2012 occupied 10km squares from targeted local survey work

Range Expansion – Small Skipper not recorded in the Borders until 2006 now well-distributed and rapidly spreading likes wide arable field margins 2006-2011 records

Scotland has 35 butterfly species – 28 occur in Lothians & Borders there are around 1300 different moths in Scotland – majority will be found in Lothians & Borders

Moths – Scottish abundance trends statistics hide the detail we’ve probably lost some species in recent decades but gained others Figure of Eighty V-moth

Macromoth Species recorded in the Borders No. of species year

Macromoth Records in the Borders No. of records year

Moth Recording

Moth Recording

Moth Recording Drinker Grey Dagger Cinnabar Small Chocolate-tip

Peacock butterfly larvae

Small Chocolate-tip last Borders record of this priority species in 1985

Small Chocolate-tip three new sites in 2013 from larval searches

Chamomile Shark adult

Chamomile Shark adult larvae

Chamomile Shark adult larvae

Chamomile Shark adult larvae

Chamomile Shark pre-2009

Chamomile Shark 2010

Chamomile Shark 2011

Chamomile Shark 2012

Chamomile Shark in 2009 just 3 years later

Cinnabar moth survey 2009-2011 is it spreading? Scotland-wide, Borders-inspired citizen science publicity remarkable results 177 people responded with records 123 10km squares 29 Scottish VCs

Cinnabar moth – Scottish breeding distribution by 2011 breeding in VC before 2000 first VC breeding records 2000-2008 first VC breeding records 2009-2011

The future focus on priority species habitats and the issue of Local Biodiversity Sites expect surprises and new discoveries – will they change the status of species? from recording to conservation

Surprises Orange Underwing first Borders record 2012 near Hawick occurs through most of Britain Blackneck at coast not recorded 1956-2009 only Scottish stations Nearest sites in Yorkshire Haworth’s Pug new for Scotland 2013 not known N of Ripon

The future focus on priority species habitats and the issue of Local Biodiversity Sites expect surprises and new discoveries – will they change the status of species? from recording to conservation

Thanks & Photo Credits Malcolm Lindsay Teyl de Bordes Duncan Davidson Iain Cowe Barbara Prater Ian Hancock Northern Discovery Museum Landowners and of course ….. all the recorders