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Elephant Hawk-moths have been unusually numerous at two sites in VC 105 this year. In the last three years the whole VC yielded 6, 3 and 0 respectively. 2019 has produced 35 with a VC record of 23 in one trap from Jim and Sheila Henderson's garden in Laide. Surprisingly, the caterpillar found in Lloyd and Chris Gudgeons's garden in Shieldaig on 1 September is the first record of a larva for the VC. 

A couple of years ago Wendy Anderson found an interesting moth in her Culloden garden, feeding on ripe bananas, it was recorded as a Copper Underwing agg as all the identifying features weren't apparent in photos.

Wendy carried on putting out ripe bananas during the flight season in 2018 and this year, and was rewarded this year with another moth.  The moth was captured this time and with assistance from Mike Taylor, Roy Leverton and Mark Cubitt, the identifying features needed for a positive identification were found and it was determined to be a Copper Underwing rather than a Svenson's Copper Underwing.

This isn't only a first for VC96, it's a first for north Scotland, until now, Copper Underwing were only found south of the Central Belt in Scotland, so this is a major expansion north.  Mark Cubitt said that until ten years ago, only Svenson's Copper Underwing was found in Scotland but since then there has been a major influx of Copper Underwing which may now be the more common of the two within Southern Scotland and is the one that may see the greatest expansion to its range.

If anyone else is lucky enough to get one, it should be retained as it will need careful examination by someone who knows what to look for to determine which of the two it is.  Wendy's moth will be released unharmed shortly.

Thanks to Mike Taylor for the photo below.

Barry Blake reports that Judith Bullivant found only the 2nd VC105 record of Slender Brindle in her Lochalsh garden.  The only other record was from the same general area in 2016.  Photo by Judith Bullivant.

Andy Williams saw over 100 Painted Ladies (below top) at Rhue, north-west of Ullapool, nectaring on Thistles.  There were good numbers of Dark Green Fritillaries (below, bottom left) in the Ulapool area and a single Grayling (below, bottom right) in the dune system at Mungasdale.

Given the temperature last night it was not surprising that Inverewe Gardens and Estate provided Barry Blake with 63 species and 360+ moths. More interesting was the occurrence of four Green Pugs in one trap.  This species has been recorded eight times in the last ten years in VC 105, but always as singles.

Barry reports that it was good for butterflies in Gairloch too, with good numbers of newly emerged Small Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals alongside the very tired looking Painted Ladies.

Pete Moore saw a total of 12 species of butterfly whilst walking in Glentromie equalling his previous best total in a day.  This included Red Admirals at the top of a 640M hill, the other species were Ringlet, Small Tortoiseshell, Painted Lady, Meadow Brown, Large Heath, Small Heath, Common Blue, Dark Green Fritillary, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Green-veined White and Northern Brown Argus.

On this rare warm and sunny weekend day, Hilary and I checked out an area of river shingle near Tomintoul in the hope of seeing Small Blue or Dingy Skipper. Unfortunately we didn't see either but we clocked up eight butterfly species, namely Green-veined White, Small Heath, Small Copper (I reckon this is the most beautiful Scottish butterfly), Painted Lady, Northern Brown Argus (two freshly emerged photo of one below), Orange-tip (eggs and adult), Small Tortoiseshell (adult and larvae) and Common Blue (first of the year for us).

And with three Narrow-bordered Bee Hawkmoths, the butterflies didn't get it all their own way.

Pete Moore

Dean MacAskill saw seven Painted Lady butterflies at Dornoch Point.

Hilary Swift's Perennial Wallflower Bowle's Mauve came up trumps again attracting a Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth to her Grantown-on-Spey garden.

It continues to be a particularly interesting year for moth trapping in the "central" area of VC105.  Barry Blake caught this Scorched Wing on the NTS Inverewe Eastate today.  There are some 22 records for this species in VC105 but all bar one are from Brian Neath in the extreme south-west of the county.

Hilary Swift had a great day for lepidoptera in and around her Grantown-on-Spey garden today.  First it was her first ever garden Small Copper quickly followed by a male and female Orange-tip nectaring on the Bowle's Mauve Perennial Wallflower.  Last, but not least, a Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth was nectaring on the Aubretia in the car park area, photo below.

Andy Williams has had a splendid year for Orange-tips so far, seeing increased numbers at new sites to him in the north-west Highlands.  This photo was taken in Ullapool.

Andy also photographed this nice, fresh Green Hairstreak near Loch Ailort on the 7th of May.

Hugh Clark photographed a Comma at the side of the path by the river Spey at Spey Bay.  This would appear to be the most northerly recorded Comma in Scotland to date.

Bob Turner and I saw our first Small Copper of the year at Nairn, we also saw a Speckled Wood.

Bob Turner and I saw our first Speckled Wood of the year at Craigellachie NNR near Aviemore today.  It's the first time we've seen Speckled Wood at Craigellachie.

Mike Taylor found two mating pairs of Small Dark Yellow Underwing (photo below) at a site near Carrbridge and has also found Netted Mountain Moth on the wing at other local sites.

Hilary Swift found a Red Admiral egg-laying on Nettles near Grantown-on-Spey yesterday, Hilary thought the egg looked like a tiny stripry gourd.

Bob Turner and I saw Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells and male Orange-tips at Lynwilg, just south of Aviemore.  We also saw a male Orange-tip at Milton Loch, Boat of Garten.

Pete Moore and Hilary Swift saw loads of Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks in Glen Beg near Grantown-on-Spey as well as a Green-veined White.  Butterflies are also enjoying the Aubretia flowers in their garden in Grantown-on-Spey, just like the Small Tortoiseshell pictured below.

Mike and Britt Taylor found their first butterfly of the year, a Peacock, on Findhorn dunes in fabulous butterfly weather, full sun, warm and no wind.

Bob Turner and I found a Ruby Tiger larva by Loch Pityoulish near Boat of Garten today.

Mike Taylor found a Brindled Pug in Findhorn, almost 4 weeks earlier than normal for the species in that area.

Mary Eagleson had a Pale Brindled Beauty on the kitchen window of her house near Maryburgh