YEARLY HIGHLIGHTS
Year: 2025
Ruby tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa)
Category: MOTHS
Where and when encountered: Abernethy Forest on 24 April 2025
Comment: This is a moth like no other, at least among Great Britain's insect fauna.
Water avens (Geum rivale)
Category: FORBS
Where and when encountered: Grantown-on-Spey on 6 May 2025
Comment: This photograph was taken in the damp microhabitat of a former railway cutting on the Dava Way.
Ribbed pine-borer (Rhagium inquisitor)
Category: LONGHORN BEETLES
Where and when encountered: Grantown-on-Spey on 6 May 2025
Comment: I could never grow tired of seeing these stunning longhorn beetles.
Heather shieldbug (Rhacognathus punctatus)
Category: SHIELDBUGS
Where and when encountered: Abernethy Forest on 9 May 2025
Comment: This heather shieldbug was unusual in having a pale ground colour.
Black-spotted longhorn beetle (Rhagium mordax)
Category: LONGHORN BEETLES
Where and when encountered: Glenfeshie on 10 May 2025
Comment: The preference of this species for the dead wood of conifers over broadleaved species was evident in this individual's choice of pine in a log pile otherwise entirely composed of felled birches.
Dingy skipper (Erynnis tages)
Category: BUTTERFLIES
Where and when encountered: Auchgourish on 11 May 2025
Comment: A visit to a known site for this species brought its reward when the sun came out at just the right time for a couple of individuals to reveal themselves with flight, including one who then settled long enough for this photograph to be taken.
Four-spotted chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata)
Category: DRAGONFLIES
Where and when encountered: Abernethy Forest on 12 May 2025
Comment: I rarely get close enough, as I did here, for a decent photograph of this relatively common dragonfly.
Cimberis attelaboides
Category: PINE FLOWER WEEVILS
Where and when encountered: Nethy Bridge on 13 May 2025
Comment: Finding this insect – a member of the only species of the pine flower weevil family in Great Britain – took careful observation over many hours in numerous different sites with Scots pine growing.
Narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth (Hemaris tityus)
Category: MOTHS
Where and when encountered: Rothiemurchus Estate on 19 May 2025
Comment: During a day spent among the Scots pines, birches, and junipers of the Rothiemurchus Estate, it was the sighting of this insect, nectaring on a lone and out-of-place apple tree, that lived longest in my memory of the day.
Eyed ladybird (Anatis ocellata)
Category: LADYBIRDS
Where and when encountered: Garlyne Moss on 31 May 2025
Comment: This pine specialist is the largest species of ladybird in Great Britain.
Gold swift (Phymatopus hecta)
Category: MOTHS
Where and when encountered: Grantown-on-Spey on 8 June 2025
Comment: The wings of this moth burned brightly in the fading light of an evening walk.
Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines)
Category: BUTTERFLIES
Where and when encountered: Nethy Bridge on 13 June 2025
Comment: This butterfly caterpillar was feeding on the seed-case of an honesty plant in a wildlife-friendly garden.
♂ White-faced darter (Leucorrhinia dubia)
Category: DRAGONFLIES
Where and when encountered: Abernethy Forest on 13 June 2025
Comment: I had the immense pleasure of watching several white-faced darters at a bog pool while listening to the screeches of swifts in the sky above and smelling the scent of bog-myrtle leaves.
Bracteon litorale
Category: GROUND BEETLES
Where and when encountered: Sluggan (Carrbridge) on 15 June 2025
Comment: This species of ground beetle belongs to a fascinating insect community specializing in life on exposed river sediment.
Five-spot ladybird (Coccinella quinquepunctata)
Category: LADYBIRDS
Where and when encountered: Sluggan (Carrbridge) on 15 June 2025
Comment: It was thrilling to find five-spot ladybirds for the first time, among wild thyme growing on river shingle.
Pine bracket (Porodaedalea pini)
Category: FUNGI
Where and when encountered: Sluggan (Carrbridge) on 15 June 2025
Comment: Despite the abundance of Scots pine in the Cairngorms National Park, I had to be patient in waiting to find this bracket fungus for the first time.
Rhinoceros stag beetle (Sinodendron cylindricum)
Category: STAG BEETLES
Where and when encountered: Sluggan (Carrbridge) on 15 June 2025
Comment: Having found part of a dead rhinoceros stag beetle at this same place the previous year, it was an entirely more satisfying experience to watch a live individual.
Small pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria selene)
Category: BUTTERFLIES
Where and when encountered: Abernethy Forest on 20 June 2025
Comment: What joy there is in beholding the wings of a fritillary.
Dark green fritillary (Speyeria aglaja)
Category: BUTTERFLIES
Where and when encountered: Grantown-on-Spey on 21 June 2025
Comment: The underside of this butterfly's wings are coloured from a palette that is surely more glorious than any human artist could create.
♂ Northern emerald (Somatochlora arctica)
Category: DRAGONFLIES
Where and when encountered: Rothiemurchus Estate on 22 June 2025
Comment: My first sighting of this spectacular species came on a day when I had not anticipated seeing any dragonflies, as it was cold, wet, and windy; the individual was clinging to the stem of a young Scots pine, having only recently emerged from his exuvia.
Slender-horned horsefly (Hybomitra montana)
Category: TRUE FLIES
Where and when encountered: Abernethy Forest on 25 June 2025
Comment: While the presence of this female horsefly, and several of her kin, accelerated my departure from a stunning lochan, I could not resist taking a close-up photograph of her incredible eyes before hastening on my way.
Greater butterfly-orchid (Platanthera chlorantha)
Category: FORBS
Where and when encountered: Kingussie on 29 June 2025
Comment: The scent released during darkness, for the attraction of moth pollinators, adds to the charm of this remarkable orchid.
Polymerus unifasciatus var lateralis
Category: PLANT BUGS
Where and when encountered: Insh Marshes on 29 June 2025
Comment: Having not seen this plant bug anywhere else in the Scottish Highlands, I was surprised by just how abundant the species was on a smallish patch of lady's bedstraw.
Large poplar longhorn beetle (Saperda carcharias)
Category: LONGHORN BEETLES
Where and when encountered: Insh Marshes on 29 June 2025
Comment: I thought that my heart might stop from the thrill of the surprise when I spotted this large longhorn beetle.
Bee beetle (Trichius fasciatus)
Category: SCARAB BEETLES
Where and when encountered: Glenfeshie on 29 June 2025
Comment: These are such arresting beetles.
Seven-spot ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata)
Category: LADYBIRDS
Where and when encountered: Tarrig Mhore on 30 June 2025
Comment: This was the first time I had seen a ladybird engaged in the task of laying eggs.
Earpick fungus (Auriscalpium vulgare)
Category: FUNGI
Where and when encountered: Nethy Bridge on 4 July 2025
Comment: This fungus – a long-awaited discovery for me – was growing around a partially buried cone from a Scots pine (just as my field guide had told me).
Pyropterus nigroruber
Category: NET-WINGED BEETLES
Where and when encountered: Nethy Bridge on 4 July 2025
Comment: The photograph does little justice to the carmine red of this beetle's elytra.
Green tiger beetle (Cicindela campestris)
Category: GROUND BEETLES
Where and when encountered: Garlyne Moss on 5 July 2025
Comment: The abundance of these beetles in the Cairngorms National Park has not dampened the enjoyment I gain from watching them in the slightest.
Small-white orchid (Pachytomella parallela)
Category: FORBS
Where and when encountered: Kingussie on 7 July 2025
Comment: I would not have found this inconspicuous orchid without the help of a mysterious and botanically knowledgeable figure who seemed to appear from nowhere while I was out looking at plants.
Marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Category: TRUE FLIES
Where and when encountered: Grantown-on-Spey on 8 July 2025
Comment: This hoverfly was settled on a rose hip covered in a bright-orange rust fungus.
Speckled wood (Pararge aegeria)
Category: BUTTERFLIES
Where and when encountered: Grantown-on-Spey on 8 July 2025
Comment: Speckled woods are often flighty and can thus be difficult subjects for close-up photography; I thus felt very lucky to be able to take this shot.
Blue tooth (Hydnellum caeruleum)
Category: FUNGI
Where and when encountered: Abernethy Forest on 1 August 2025
Comment: Had these fruiting bodies been more mature, and thus lost much of their blue hue, I might have struggled to identify them to species level.
Spiked shieldbug (Picromerus bidens)
Category: SHIELDBUGS
Where and when encountered: Abernethy Forest on 2 August 2025
Comment: The spiked shieldbug might (in my humble opinion) be the single-most photogenic insect.
Peacock (Aglais io)
Category: BUTTERFLIES
Where and when encountered: Anagach Woods on 16 August 2025
Comment: When anyone has a bad word to say about nettles I like to point out that without these plants there would, for instance, be far fewer peacock butterflies.
Small scabious mining bee (Andrena marginata)
Category: HYMENOPTERANS
Where and when encountered: Highland Folk Museum on 19 August 2025
Comment: It took me four years to find and photograph a member of this species.
Calocoris roseomaculatus
Category: PLANT BUGS
Where and when encountered: Highland Folk Museum on 19 August 2025
Comment: While I tend towards pacifism, I cannot help but think that the 'warpaint bug' would be a suitable vernacular name for this insect.
Common hawker (Sympetrum striolatum)
Category: DRAGONFLIES
Where and when encountered: Craigellachie NNR on 19 August 2025
Comment: It required a feat of balance to take this photograph without toppling into the body of water that had birthed this newly emerged dragonfly.
Thanasimus femoralis
Category: CHECKERED BEETLES
Where and when encountered: Nethy Bridge on 24 August 2025
Comment: Having seen dozens and dozens of the much more common species from this genus in Great Britain – Thanasimus formicarius – I almost could not believe that I had at last found a member of the rarer species.
Hawthorn shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)
Category: SHIELDBUGS
Where and when encountered: Milton Loch on 25 August 2025
Comment: The leaves providing the background colours in the photograph were those of a bird cherry in preparation for autumn's coming.
Pantilius tunicatus
Category: PLANT BUGS
Where and when encountered: Grantown-on-Spey on 28 August 2025
Comment: This late-season plant bug provides one of autumn's many glories.
Pine ladybird (Exochomus quadripustulatus)
Category: LADYBIRDS
Where and when encountered: Glenbeg on 13 September 2025
Comment: The ladybird photographed appeared to be feeding on a grey waxy pine needle aphid.