East Scotland news

A new set of pages have been created on the East Scotland Branch website on Scottish butterflies including distribution maps.

The Sterling and Parsons micro moth field guide suggested that the inland bellana form of Eana penziana might be extinct. Mark Cubitt and Tom Prescott published a short note in the Entomologist's Record with details of records that they and others have had of this form in recent years to put the record straight. The note can be viewed from the news article.

There is a new version of the Scottish Moth Recording Spreadsheet available which has a number of useful enhancements including checking flight periods and micro moth validation help.

The latest revision of the Scottish Macro-moth Species List compiled by Roy Leverton has been produced. This covers known records to the end of 2020.

Appeal to public in Scotland to help spot the UK's smallest butterfly

Wildlife lovers across Scotland are being asked to look out for the Small Copper butterfly this summer, amidst fears it could be struggling.

Butterfly Conservation has received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £74,200 for a new project, which will help get volunteers creating meadows for butterflies in central Scotland.

Butterfly Conservation’s East Scotland Branch has launched a new small grants scheme. They will be awarding five grants of up to £200 each to assist the creation of pollinator habitat. 

A beautiful blue butterfly which has been struggling for the last 40 years could be making a comeback in Scotland.

Butterfly Conservation Scotland are calling on nature enthusiasts to look for the Small Tortoiseshell and other species at Edinburgh's last peatbog -  the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Red Moss of Balerno reserve.

Since the Hibernating Herald project began in December 2016 people from across Scotland have been visiting dark places in the depth of winter to seek out overwintering moths. 

Children across Scotland’s towns and cities are being given the chance to reconnect with nature as part of a new project by wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation (BC).

Around three-quarters of the Scottish population (74%) have some negative opinion of moths, with many people believing the majority eat clothes and are pests, a study has revealed.

Moth numbers have declined over the last 25 years in Scotland while their distribution has increased, a report has revealed. 

Thanks to technology it is easier than ever to send in sightings of butterflies. Thousands of records are received this way every year now, and it has helped open the world of butterfly recording to people who may never have recorded an insect. But how can you go about it?

After February's phenomenal mini heatwave no less than 7 Butterfly species were recorded within the East Branch area. Very unusual. Here are a few of the photographs showing Speckled Wood (Robert Wright) Painted Lady (Jim Montana), Peacock and Comma (Iain Cowe)

Read here for the latest developments on the controversial plans to create a golf course at Coul Links near Embo, Sutherland, in the Highlands of Scotland. 

BC has joined with a number of other organisations to try and protect the wide range of wildlife found at the site.

A butterfly once restricted to a small part of Scotland is making a comeback by expanding its range in the countryside and moving into cities like Edinburgh and more recently, Aberdeen.

A moth normally associated with southern England and Wales has been discovered in Scotland for the first time.

One of Scotland’s most striking butterflies, the Peacock, has experienced a record summer as it thrived in heatwave conditions, results from the Big Butterfly Count revealed.

History fans are being asked to take a closer look at castles this summer in a bid to track the changing fortunes of one of the UK’s most striking and overlooked butterflies.

Wildlife lovers across Scotland’s towns and cities are being asked to look out for the country’s only widespread blue butterfly this summer, amidst fears it could be struggling.

Wildlife lovers are being asked to help Scotland’s smallest butterfly, which has found itself in big trouble.

A declining butterfly may have started breeding in Scotland for the first time in 130 years, after eggs were discovered by amateur naturalists in Berwickshire earlier this month...

White-letter Hairstreak discovered in Scotland for the first time in 130 years