On our 2nd day in the Fort William area, during our searches for the Chequered Skippers, Lisa found what was possibly the find of the holiday. She spotted what she thought was a large bee, looking very odd. She called me over, and I immediately knew it was a beautiful Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth. One of my favourite species, and one that I hadn't really managed to get any decent photos of before. The moth was obviously just emerging from the pupa. Looking back, I should have searched for the pupa, but as it had just started raining pretty hard, we quickly took a few photos before retreating to shelter in the car.
Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth.
Underneath view.
After an hour or so, the rain stopped, so we headed back to where the moth was, and it was still in the area, pumping up its wings and looking even better than before.
Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth.
I have always enjoyed watching the Bee Hawk-moths, ever since I used to cycle out to a wood several miles from my childhood home to watch the Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moths. Unfortunately, the moths have not been seen at that site now for many years, so the Narrow-bordered is the one I see more often when I'm searching for Marsh Fritillaries. The Narrow-bordered and the Marsh Fritillary use the same larval food plant, Devil's Bit Scabious, so they are often seen in the same locations. Having said that, the nearest site to home for both the moth and fritillary is around 100 miles from home, so no chance of cycling there!!
For Christmas Matt had got me the superb book 'Much Ado About Mothing' by James Lowen. I was planning on reading bits from the book during the year, but as it was, I enjoyed the book so much that I read it all in a little over a week. Whilst reading the book, I came across the bit where James was looking for the Slender Scotch Burnet moth. A very rare moth, with a subspecies only found on Mull. As Lisa and I were having 2 weeks on Mull, I was determined to hunt the moth out while we were on the Island. We actually searched for it 3 times during our stay, but due to the cold spring the moth was late appearing this year so we missed it. However, James had also hinted that there were Marsh Fritillaries at the same site. However, it was still a surprise when I spotted a Marsh Fritillary almost as soon as we had arrived. This was one of the butterfly species that I thought I wasn't going to see this year, as I normally go to Wiltshire for it, but had decided against going this year due to the long trip to Scotland. It soon became apparent that there were good numbers of the butterfly here.
Male Marsh Fritillary.
We were quietly walking along one of the narrow paths, when we saw two Fritillaries take off. It was obviously a male and female. I watched them briefly, but Lisa had other ideas. She watched where they flew to and headed over to see if they had joined up to mate. Meanwhile I headed away from the area, when I spotted a Narrow-bordered Bee hawk-moth nectaring on the Bird's Foot Trefoil. I looked over to Lisa to beckon her over, but she was waving me to where she was. I realised straight away that she had found the two Marsh Fritillaries. Indeed they had joined up and it was brilliant seeing them mating. Good for Lisa for finding them.
Mating Marsh Fritillaries.
After telling Lisa about the Hawk-moth, we continued searching. There were some nice warblers and pipits about as well as the insects. While Lisa was concentrating on them I continued to search for the Burnet moths, although it was already clear that we were probably too early in the season. I did however, find a nice female Marsh Fritillary. This species lays lots of eggs and the female abdomen is very large to hold the eggs. It is very easy to tell the sexes apart due to this.
Female Marsh Fritillary.
As the afternoon warmth slowly built up the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moths started to become more evident, and we both enjoyed the challenge of photographing them as they nectared on the wing, on the Bird's Foot Trefoil. At one point, one of the moths actually settled right in front of us and rested on the ground for a couple of minutes. This was a bit easier than photographing them on the wing!!
Resting Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth.
As it was we did both manage a few half decent photos of them nectaring. It really was a fabulous day spent in such a lovely setting of Duart Castle. Even though we didn't see the Burnet moths. We had thought we would only be there a couple of hours, but in the end we were there nearly all day!!
Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth feeding.
As far as the Burnet Moth goes, I will have to try and get to Mull again one day. However, I have just returned from a butterfly tour of the Dolomites, and amazingly I got to see the Slender Scotch Burnet moth there. Okay, not the mega rare subspecies, but it was crazy after all the hunting on Mull to see it, only to find it in Italy!!
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