Loch Tinker

Yesterday we went for a walk to the remote Loch Tinker, high in the hills to the south of Loch Katrine. The aim was to look for plants, but we also found a number of interesting insects.

On the heather around the loch were large numbers of Vapourer Moth caterpillars. These must be one of the most exotic-looking among British caterpillars, with their bright colours and tufts of bristles.

In a boggy area crossed by streams, I noticed brightly coloured creatures skimming across the surface of the water. They were such a brilliant red that they looked like little lights.

It was only after looking at my photos later that I realised that these were ordinary pond skaters which were infested with tiny mites. As these were shiny, spherical and bright red, they were acting like little beads in a reflective surface, which gave the effect that they were alight.

We also saw a pair of fritillaries, probably Dark Green Fritillaries...

...but the most frequently seen butterfly was the Scotch Argus. These butterflies seem to have emerged in the last week and can be seen in large numbers on the lower slopes of the hills just now.

Life after the freeze

After recording a temperature of -15°C at 7am the day before yesterday, the big thaw has now begun. I'll post some pictures of the snow later, but this morning I went out on my cross-country skis to the park by our house and was amazed at the number of small creatures walking around on the snow. These included spiders, flies, springtails and a froghopper. I imagine that the sudden rise in temperature must have caused the eggs to hatch. Below are a selection.

A strange insect

A few days ago, Fred and I went for a walk to a boggy area near Aberfoyle in central Scotland, where we wanted to look for some unusual plants.

I found this strange creature sitting on some wet peat. I did not recognise it at all, and couldn't think what on earth it could be.

After searching through a book on insects, I discovered that it was the larva of a glow worm.

Glow worms are relatively common in the south of England, but few and far between in Scotland. Neither of us had ever seen one before.

For more information about glow worms, see
The UK Glow worm Survey Home Page

Lochan nan Arm

Recently Fred and I visited Lochan nan Arm, a small lochan nestling among hillocks. We had only seen it on the map, so were delighted to find such an attractive place. In the picture below you can also see Beinn Dubhchraig in the distance.

At one end, the loch was covered with yellow water-lilies.

I noticed a damselfly which was laying eggs under the water. It was climbing down a grass stem which was hanging into the water, becoming completely submerged in the water, laying a few eggs ad then resurfacing before going back down again.

There were many other dragonflies and damselflies present, including this one with wings that glinted in the sunlight.

Today we went to Rowardennan, on the east side of Loch Lomond, and saw another dragonfly laying eggs, but this one was using a different method. See the video.

Cheating bees

A few days ago I visited a local garden centre and came across this plant, which goes by the name of Salvia "Hot Lips." A bee was doing the rounds of the flowers, but I noticed that it was not entering the flower through the corolla tube to collect the nectar. Instead it was inserting its tongue at the side of the tube, just above the sepals. On closer examination, I discovered that there was already a small hole in the side of the corolla tube at this point (which can just be made out in the picture above), and the bee was making use of this to gain access to the nectar. As it flew round the plants, it inspected each flower in search of a hole, and did not attempt to collect nectar from flowers without holes. What is more, the holes seemed to be only on the right side of the flowers when facing them, and not on the left.

Charles dawin noticed this behaviour by bees, and he and other writers give the most likely culprit for the initial piercing to be bumble bees, with honey bees subsequently utilising the holes.

Further reading:

Free, J. B. 1993. Insect Pollination of Crops. p.267-9

Maloof, Joan E; Inouye, David W. Ecology 2651-2661 81, no. 10 (Oct 2000): p. 2651-2661 Are nectar robbers cheaters or mutualists?

Charlton, Nicholas L. British Entomological and Natural History Society. When bees exploit plants: Nectar robbery

Kirkton Glen

I have at last swapped skis for walking boots, and we are beginning to find the first spring flowers.

Last Saturday we walked up Kirkton Glen.

The start of the walk is on a track through forestry which has mostly been felled. Between the trees, we had a view to the top of the Glen.

Soon after leaving the forestry track for the hill path I found a beetle which I didn't recognise. I later identified it as Carabus nitens, which is described as a very local species, and I am grateful to Jeanne Robinson who confirmed this ID.

Near the top of the track is a large boulder called Rob Roy's Putting Stone.

On this boulder and on many of the surrounding crags we found Saxifraga oppositifolia, Purple Saxifrage, in flower, though it was not as advanced as it had been 10 days earlier last year.

There was still quite a lot of snow lying around Lochan an Eireannaich.

The weather was warm and sunny and, with more similar days forecast, the snow cannot last much longer at this relatively low altitude.

There were frogs everywhere. We heard them singing by the lochan, and whenever we were near water they were leaping away from us.

To the west, we had magnificent views of Stobinian and Ben More.

As we returned, we also had excellent views to the south-east, looking down to the track by which we had ascended.

Distribution maps of ground beetles including Carabus nitens

Dragonflies and damselflies

On Saturday we visited some ponds where Fred had not collected samples before. There were large numbers of insects visiting the ponds, including these damselflies.

Male Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa)


Female Emerald Damselfly


Pair of Emerald Damselflies

Pair of Darters (probably Black Darters - Sympetrum danae)

Watch a video of two pairs of Darters laying eggs.

I also found this empty larva case (exuvia) of a Common Hawker (Aeshna juncea) - one of the larger dragonflies.

One of the dragonflies even settled on Fred's head!

Many thanks to Jeanne Robinson for help with identifications.

Further information:

British Dragonfly Society - includes photos of British species
and a useful pdf document on Dragonflies in your garden

Hawthorn Shield Bug

Yesterday I met a small creature resembling an alien in our garden.

It was a Hawthorn Shield Bug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale).

It was very co-operative about having its photo taken, and afterwards I put it on a cotoneaster bush, as I think it must have dropped out of it while I was pruning.

When I went out again an hour or two later, there was a second Shield Bug sitting close by, which I hadn't noticed before. It must have been attracted by the presence of the first one.

These bugs go through five larval stages called instars.

This morning, when I went to the garden waste bin to add some more prunings, I discovered what I now recognised as an immature Shield Bug inside the bin. (I also made a mental note always to shake any prunings before putting them in the bin in future, so that these small creatures don't get sent away with the waste)

Later I found 2 more smaller ones. This is the biggest and the smallest at 11:50am...

...and the middle-sized one at 1:50pm, with the small one hiding under a leaf on the left.

1:50pm. The biggest and smallest. The smallest had already changed colour, so it must have gone through a moult.

17:30. I went to have another look, and the biggest one had now changed completely. I think this is the 5th instar stage.

17:45pm. Meanwhile, the smallest seemed to be moulting again.

8th October 2009

Today I found this shieldbug crawling on the lid of one of our compost bins. It is a Birch Shield Bug (Elasmostethus interstinctus) and it measured 8.5mm excluding the antennae - slightly smaller than the Hawthorn Shield Bug. Note that the projections on the pronotum (the widest bit just behind the head) are smaller and not tinged red.

16th October 2009

It has been a while since I saw any Hawthorn Shield Bugs, but I discovered this 5th instar today on the cotoneaster bushes.

More information can be found on the British Bugs website.

Midge larvae

A few days ago I discovered what appeared to be eggs in a mass of jelly about 2cm long in a tray of water in our garden.

The eggs appeared to be arranged spirally within the jelly.

On examination under the microscope, we could see small creatures inside the eggs.

Three days later, these had hatched out as small larvae.

These appear to be the larvae of Chironomids, or non-biting midges. We'll watch to see how they develop.

Addition to previous blog entry:

Last Saturday I found more star jelly, high up on a Scottish mountain.