I put the moth trap out last week, but the night was colder than forecast and I caught no moths. I shall have another go soon. In the garden there was a larva of Green-veined White butterfly in a cabbage we harvested and a pupa of the same species on the wall of the house.
I have caught several flies in the garden as there is always a chance of something interesting early in the season, before more southerly-based entomologists have migrated north. Mostly I have had Pollenia spp. which are unlikely to be very exciting but I shall ask Murdo to look at what I have when I see him in April.
Potentially much more exciting is an Anthocorid bug that I swept off the Box hedge in Raasay House garden a few days ago. It may be Anthocoris butleri, which is a Box specialist, larvae and adults both being predators of Psylla buxi (Box Psyllid) which was found there last year. The key distinguishing feature of this species (cf A. nemoralis and others) is that the second antennal segment (counting from the head) is longer than the width of the head across the eyes. This appears to be true of my specimen and it is also small, which is right. However, I have sent it to Stephen Moran for confirmation (or otherwise). If correct, this will be the first record on NBN north of the English Midlands.
Later: Sadly, not confirmed.
Not an insect, but in the bathroom there was a fine specimen of Metellina segmentata or M. mengei. Had it been a male, I could have been confident of the species from the presence or absence of a fringe of long hairs beneath the fore tarsi, but the females are trickier.
Tags: Insects
Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles 
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