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

2. 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”?

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

9. 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

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

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

12. Butterfly transects
Where are they?
How are they done?

13. 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
* v

14. Northern Brown Argus

15. 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 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.

16. Priorities – Regional Action Plan
The Plan
The Maps

17. Small Blue butterfly projects
Small Blue records
Small Blue records

18. 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

19. Green Hairstreak
moorland sites with blaeberry
flies in May

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

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

22. 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

23. 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

24. Macromoth Species recorded in the Borders
No. of
species
year

25. Macromoth Records in the Borders
No. of
records
year

26. Moth Recording

27. Moth Recording

32. Moth Recording
Drinker
Grey Dagger
Cinnabar
Small Chocolate-tip

33. Peacock butterfly
larvae

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

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

37. Chamomile Shark
adult

38. Chamomile Shark
adult
larvae

39. Chamomile Shark
adult
larvae

40. Chamomile Shark
adult
larvae

41. Chamomile Shark pre-2009

42. Chamomile Shark 2010

43. Chamomile Shark 2011

44. Chamomile Shark 2012

45. Chamomile Shark
in 2009
just 3 years later

46. 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

47. Cinnabar moth – Scottish breeding distribution by 2011
breeding in VC before 2000
first VC breeding records
first VC breeding records

48. 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

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

50. 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

51. 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