July and August – Buff Footman

Perhaps the moth find of the year for Stirlingshire and West Perthshire is the Buff Footman. I was lucky enough to find the first at Lennoxtown on the 11^th July, another was caught by David Bryant at Bridge of Allan on 11^th August and I identified a third in the catch for the 2^nd August of the Rothamsted trap at Rowardennan on Loch Lomondside.  Thus the species is now recorded in vc86 and 87.

Central Scotland is accumulating an impressive list of species that have moved into the region in the 21^st century. They include in rough order of appearance Pale Prominent (actually first recorded in  1995), Red-necked Footman, Slender Brindle, Ypsolopha sequella, Alder Moth, Copper Underwing, Oak-tree Pug, Pale Pinion, Lesser Treble-bar and now Buff Footman. The spread of Red-necked Footman, Slender Brindle and Pale Pinion was dramatic but that of Buff footman appears to be even more impressive. The map for the species in The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland vol 9 (Harley Books) shows that in 1978 the species had a patchy distribution mainly south of a line from the Severn to the Wash. However, The Provisional Atlas of the UK’s Larger Moths, produced in response to the National Moth Recording Scheme (Hill et al , 2010. Butterfly Conservation), shows considerable northward expansion. Steve Palmer (pers. comm.) informs me that the first authenticated record in Lancashire came in 2000 and that it is now recorded in good numbers throughout the county particularly in the north. The Tullie House Museum, that currently holds the Cumbria moth database, has records from across the county dating from 1999 and the first record in Scotland would appear to be from Forest Moor, Wigtownshire (vc74) in 2006 (Dumfries and Galloway Moths website). In 2008, the species had spread to vc73, Kirkcudbrightshire, where it is now recorded at multiple sites and, in some, is so well established that there have been single trap counts of up to15 (G. Chambers, pers. comm.). Oddly, there appear to be no known records from Dumfriesshire (vc72) but from near Kelso in adjacent vc80 it has been recorded annually since 2009. In addition, there is a single 2009 record from Ayrshire (N. Gregory, pers. comm.). Thus, it appears that the species is spreading rapidly in southern Scotland and has now reached the central belt.

With all of the species moving north, is tempting to see their movement north as a response to climate warming or, in the case of Red-necked and Buff Footman, to the cleaner air that supports lichen growth. However, Roy Leverton has pointed out that the factors supporting northward range extension must be more complicated because, both Dingy and Scarce Footman both occurred further north than Buff Footman in 1978 but they have not spread to central Scotland.