Scottish butterfly species hunting side quest completed! Extending the hunt!

Last month, I visited Lawers Dam in the Grampian Mountians with my mate Nick, for a day stomping around a boggy hillside hunting for mountain ringlet, a species of butterfly that's only found high up above an altitude of 350m in the Scottish highlands and also down south in the Lake District. Having managed to find the remaining thirty three species of butterfly found in Scotland, the mountain ringlet was the last one I had to see. After a long drive, we spotted one very quickly and my butterfly hunting side quest was complete. I actually managed to see all thirty four this year and having enjoyed myself in the process, I've decided to extend my side quest to include the rest of the UK and have already made a start. Here are the final ten Scottish species as well as my first two new UK butterfly species.

Top row: Chequered Skipper. Dark Green Fritillary. Dingy Skipper. Large Heath.
Middle row: Large Skipper. Marsh Fritillary. Mountain Ringlet. Purple Hairstreak*.
Bottom Row: Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. White-letter Hairstreak*. High-brown Fritillary (ENG). Marbled White (ENG).

This new extended side quest gives me over two dozen new targets to track down over the remainder of the summer months. I've already seen nine, most of them in the north of England, and a trip down to Cornwall next month might see me add one or two more before the season is over.

Scott.

*These photos were taken by my mate Nick. These two species typically spend most of their time at the top of oak and elm trees so getting a photo with my phone was impossible. While Nick used his camera I was happy enough watching them through a pair of binoculars. That said I'd like to see them up close if possible. Maybe next year. 

Putting two and two together.

Last month, I drove all the way to Taynish National Nature Reserve on the west coast of Scotland to look for the marsh fritillary butterfly. I didn’t see one sadly, so about two weeks later, I returned with my mate Nick for another attempt. Staying overnight, the first day we wandered around the reservse for hours, but didn’t have any luck. After dinner and a pint or two in the Tayvallich Inn that evening, we did a spot of fishing around the village. As well as a few small corkwing wrasse, we caught a load of black goby. As it started to get dark, and the midgies began to appear, we were about to call it a night when I caught a solitary rock goby. Tired from a long day of driving, walking and fishing we headed back to the campsite to get some well earned sleep. 

My first black goby of 2026. One of many!

Also my first rock goby of the year. One of one!

Both up early in the morning, we turned our attention back to finding a marsh fritillary and formulated a plan. After heading to a couple of spots where they’ve been seen in the past,  that sadly didn’t produce one, our third spot looked much more promising. Walking along close to the rocky shoreline, the sun was out and there were a lot of different butterfly species around. After a while we decided to split up to cover more ground. Nick soon called me to say he had spotted our target species, and I quickly made my way over to where he was. Luckily the butterfly didn’t fly off and was very cooperative as we both took a few photos. 

My first ever marsh fritillary! A very pretty species indeed. Only found in Scotland in south Lochaber, Argyll and the Argyll Islands.

It was still fairly early in the day, so as we walked back to Nick’s van we discussed what we wanted to do for the rest of the day. Opting to head home via a stop to look for more butterflies near Oban, we got lucky when a single dark green fritillary flew by and landed in the dense hillside ferns. After chasing it around for a while, we both eventually got a few photos. 

My first dark green fritillary. Much more widespread than the marsh fritillary, it was still great to tick off yet another Scottish butterfly species. 

Before we left, I spotted a second marsh fritillary. I think the hills around Oban are perhaps the best place to see them. Taynish National Nature Reserve is a lovely spot, but it’s quite a walk from the car park down to the bog where they are usually seen. Anyway, it had been a successful trip. I’d added two new butterfly species and two goby species to my 2026 species counts. 

Tight lines, Scott.

I'll take the high road.

At the end of last month, I set off on a road trip up to the highlands to try and see two species of butterfly for the first time. My first stop was the Allt Mhuic Butterfly Reserve, situated on the northern shore of Loch Arkaig in Lochaber. It’s a great place to see the chequered skipper, a rare butterfly that is only found within a thirty mile radius of Fort William. After a four hour drive, it didn’t take me too long to spot one, just a short walk up into the reserve from the car park. 

My first chequered skipper!

With the possibility of seeing a few other species of butterfly, I continued walking up the hill further into the reserve, but after a while all I had seen were a few more chequered skipper, so I headed back down to the car and began the second leg of my journey, heading much further north to Balnagown Woods in the County of Ross. Once I arrived, it didn’t take me long to walk from the car to a clearing in the trees and spot my target, the dingy skipper. Much to my delight, there were also large numbers of small blue fluttering around the vegetation.

I saw quite a few of these dingy skipper.

They small blue is the UK's smallest butterfly species.

I spent an hour or so wandering around the woods and all the open areas I explored had lots of butterflies flying around. Walking back to the car, the prospect of doing another four hours of driving to get home didn’t fill me with excitement, but seeing two new species of Scottish butterfly and my first small blues of the year had made the trip well worthwhile. 

The following day Lillian and I drove north again to spend the weekend at her parent’s house in Keith. A last minute unplanned trip, I didn’t expect to drive all the way back up to the highlands quite so soon! Whilst there we visited Cullen on the Saturday and Portknockie the following day. While Lillian and her mum went for a walk, I spent an hour at both of the town's harbours fishing. Not much was biting, and I only managed to catch four fish, but all of them were different species. 

This savage shanny didn’t take too kindly to being caught and clamped its jaws onto my finger. 

It really didn’t want to let go either!

When it finally did, it had left quite an impression!

After spending some more time working my way along the inside of Cullen harbour, fishing straight down the wall, I’d only tempted two fish to bite my piece of Angleworm. The second, a very small rockling, most likely a five bearded, fell off as I lifted it out of the water. Fancying a change, I walked around to the mouth of the harbour to try fishing there. 

When your chosen area is not very productive, sometimes it’s a good idea to move.

At the end of the harbour, there was a bit more structure around the base of the breakwater, some small kelp beds and more depth. It looked promising, but despite that, nothing was biting to begin with in close, so I had a few casts further out. This produced a few odd knocks and then I caught a small sandeel. 

Given it’s relatively smsll size, it could have been one of several species. 

Small teeth on the roof of the mouth meant it was one of the two Hyperoplus genus that are found in UK waters, the greater sandeel or the Corbin’s sandeel. 

With no obvious spot on its snout and a black chin, most species hunters would declare this as a Corbin’s sandeel, but I'm not convinced these features can be relied upon to distinguish between the two.

A Corbin's sandeel would be an addition to my Scottish species tally, but I'm not going to add it at this point. For the time being I'm recording this as a greater sandeel. I feel that further investigation is required because the research that I've done online and looking through the books I own fails to provide a more concrete way to tell the two apart. Corbin's sandeel is only supposed to be found on the west coast of the UK for example and it's also described as more commonly found offshore. 

The following day visiting Portknockie, we went for a short walk along the cliffs to see Bow Fiddle Rock. As we walked along the cliff top path, I was also on the lookout for butterflies, and we did see quite a few painted lady, but that was the only butterfly we spotted.

Bow fiddle rock is an impressive natural sea arch near Portknockie.

Heading down to the town’s harbour, I fished from the small concrete pier on the outside of the harbour’s outer wall, accessed through a small tunnel. Again, not a lot was biting, but a small ballan wrasse eventually grabbed my Angleworm and tried its best to get into the kelp. Just before I left, I caught a solitary long spined sea scorpion. 

Even relatively small ballan wrasse fight dirty. 

This cheeky little fellow was the last fish of the weekend.

The following day we drove back down to the capital again, and over the two back to back highland trips I'd probably done about twenty hours of driving! It wasn’t as bad as it sounds however. Large parts were actually very pleasant. I always forget just how stunning some of the scenery is in the highlands and I really should make more of an effort to head up there more frequently! 

Tight lines, Scott.

Scottish butterfly species hunting side quest: Early season update.

As catching new species of fish in Scotland has now become very difficult, last year I decided to feed my addiction with a butterfly hunting side quest. I've been out and about on sunny days this year and I've managed to find sixteen species so far around Scotland, including my first green hairsteak and pearl-bordered fritillary. This takes my overall tally to twenty four. Last year I posted collage of a dozen of the ones I'd photographed, so here are the second twelve...

Top row: Grayling. Green Hairsteak. Holly Blue. Meadow Brown.
Middle row: Northern Brown Argus. Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Ringlet. Small Orange.
Bottom Row: Small Heath. Small Skipper. Small White. Wall Brown.

There are thirty four species in total in Scotland, plus a few others that have been spotted here over the last few years that do not breed here. I'm going to try to find as many of them as I can this year! Next week I'm heading to the highlands to hunt chequered skipper and dingy skipper. I might also do some fishing while I'm there!

Scott.

A Scottish species hunting side quest.

As catching new species of fish in Scotland has now become very difficult, I decided earlier this year to feed my addiction with a side quest. It's been a fantastic year for butterflies, so I decided to start looking out for them when I’ve been out and about, and sometimes even travelling around the east coast of Scotland specifically to find them. I’ve done quite well and here's a selection of some of the species I've managed to photograph this year.

A dozen of the different species of the Scottish butterflies I have spotted and photographed this year.

Top row: Comma. Common Blue. Green Veined White. Large White.
Middle row: Orange Tip White. Painted Lady. Peacock. Red Admiral.
Bottom Row: Scotch Argus. Small Blue. Small Tortoiseshell. Speckled Wood.

There are thirty four species in total in Scotland, plus three others that have been spotted here over the last few years that do not breed here. In total, I've seen twenty two species this year, which I think is pretty good going. I've really enjoyed chasing them around armed only with my iPhone, trying to get a few photos of them. Next year, I plan on spending some time hunting down the ones I haven't seen yet.

Scott.