Latest News
Details of unusual or unseasonal sightings are especially welcome for inclusion on this page, although any contributions are welcome. Please send your contributions to @email
Highland Branch welcomes contributions not just from Highland and Moray, but from the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.
Recent Sightings
14/04/2024 Chris Stamp found some Purple Hairstreak eggs at Loch Pityoulish near Aviemore.
18/03/2024 Amy Archer & Ewan Munro trapped a Rannoch Sprawler, totally unexpected and a first for their urban garden in Inverness.
08/09/2023 This proved to be a highly productive night for recorders in VC105. Jim Henderson filmed a magnificent Convolvulus Hawk-moth in his garden at Laide, while Sue Pomeroy found only the second VC record for Vestal and the sixth record for Brown-spot Pinion (by far the most northerly in the VC) at Durnamuck. Not to be outdone, John Port in Big Sand caught a Marsh Oblique-barred, the first VC record in 20 years, the other three records being from a single week at Beinn Eighe.
17/08/2023 Barry Blake reports that the persistence of local recorder Jim Henderson through some pretty marginal weather, was finally rewarded with a new species for VC105 (West Ross). This is by far the most north westerly record for the Bulrush Wainscot in Scotland. With thanks to Roy Leverton for the identification.
09/07/2023 Gwen Richards saw her first Ringlets in Assynt, at Strathan near Lochinver, there were 4 of them.
09/07/2023 Moth numbers remain low despite the apparently good conditions, but Inverewe produced a few scarce (in VC105 records) moths for Barry Blake last night. The Gothic is one of only 23 VC records and a female Gold Swift was an equally scarce find. In addition, the Gardens produced the 9th VC Scallop Shell of the year to date, the most recorded since the species first appeared in VC catches in 2016.
A few days earlier, an Anania crocealis from Barry’s Gairloch garden was a first record from VC 105 for a species Mark Young noted as spreading fast in the west.
05/07/2023 After reporting the first Ringlets for VC105 at Braemore last year it was good to find recently that they are still there. Better still, they have continued north at least as far as Ullapool. Where Tom Talbot found this beauty today.
