The moth trap caught 12 moths of 7 species; nothing of great note though the Chestnut filled in a gap in my records having previously been seen in February and April. It appears to have had a run-in with one of the local avifauna.
I also caught an ichneumonid, Ophion scutellaris, sometimes called March Ichneumon Wasp. There are not many records for this on NBN but this is a very difficult group. However, about 10% of the species of insects found in Britain are ichneumonids so one should try.
There was also a cranefly awaiting i.d.
Meanwhile, a record of Senecio squalidus (Oxford Ragwort) from Skye last May has turned up on iNaturalist. This is a first for VC104 apart from an anonymous 10km record from 1962.
Images from the finder:
Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles 
March 23, 2024 at 6:26 pm |
Your cranefly isn’t Tipula rufina, buddy. The dark thoracic line should be almost black and run from behind the eye back to wing bases along the side of the thorax, not along the top. You’ll know it when you see it, it’s quite a common fly on Skye.
March 23, 2024 at 7:11 pm |
OK so what is it?
March 23, 2024 at 8:11 pm
Couldn’t tell you without consulting my books, and I’m off Skye for the next coupla weeks. Murdo loves a cranefly though š
March 24, 2024 at 12:30 pm |
I was concerned that it seemed too small for T.rufina but then found the stripe and thought Aha! Wrongly.š