Sluggan Bridge Field Trip - Sunday 17th June 2018

 11 of us met at the car park in Carrbridge on what was unfortunately a dull, overcast morning which didn't bode well for seeing our target species, Small Blue.  We travelled west out of Carrbridge on a minor road, in as few cars as possible, to a small parking area near Sluggan Bridge

 

The site we went to was only discovered to have Small Blue there last year at the start of July, almost the end of the flight season.  It is on the bank of the river Dulnain a few hundred metres downstream from Sluggan Bridge itself.  There is plenty of Kidney Vetch on both sides of the river and the butterfly has been seen on both sides.

 

As we went towards the river, there were lots of micro moths about with the occasional larger moth, so at least something was on the wing despite the dull conditions.  Once we reached the area of Kidney Vetch, we started searching for any Small Blues and after about 10 minutes of searching one was found despite the cloudy conditions.

 

Small Blue on Kidney Vetch and area where it was found.

 

After hunting in the area for about 20 minutes after the one Small Blue was found, we saw a few Small Heath, one more Small Blue, a Green-veined White, some micro moths and a rather nice Green Carpet moth.  We decided to then walk slowly upstream to Sluggan Bridge as there are other areas with Kidney Vetch on the way.  We didn't find any more Small Blues, but we did find some more Small Heaths and a few Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, incuding one quite tatty one.

 

Green Carpet and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

 

As we headed towards the bridge, we started seeing Chimney Sweeper moths, probably the most common moth on the day, they seemed to be everywhere and weren't bothered by the lack of sunshine.  We also saw a rather nice Birch Sawfly on a small Birch tree.  We reached the bridge and crossed it and sat on the walls of an old ruined building to have our lunch before heading back to the cars.  In total we saw 4 species of butterfly and 17 species of moth, full list below.  Thanks to Mike Taylor for compiling the moth list.

 

Looking for moths and butterflies and a Birch Sawfly

 

Butterflies

 

Taxon	Vernacular
Cupido minimus	Small Blue
Coenonympha pamphilus	Small Heath
Pieris napi	Green-veined White
Boloria selene	Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

 

Moths

 

Code	Taxon	Vernacular
16.001	Yponomeuta evonymella	Bird-cherry Ermine - Larval Nets
35.040	Bryotropha terrella	Cinereous Groundling
49.028	Syndemis musculana	Dark-barred Twist
49.166	Celypha lacunana	Dark Strawberry Tortrix
49.214	Ancylis badiana	Common Roller
63.080	Chrysoteuchia culmella	Garden Grass-veneer
63.085	Crambus pratella	Scarce Grass-veneer
63.086	Crambus lathoniellus	Hook-streak Grass-veneer
70.026	Scopula ternata	Smoky Wave
70.054	Xanthorhoe montanata	Silver-ground Carpet
70.061	Epirrhoe alternata	Common Carpet
70.087	Cosmorhoe ocellata	Purple Bar
70.100	Colostygia pectinataria	Green Carpet
70.130	Odezia atrata	Chimney Sweeper
70.275	Ematurga atomaria	Common Heath
70.283	Campaea margaritaria	Light Emerald
70.270	Ectropis crepuscularia	Engrailed - larva