Ray Collier Country Diary - Green-Veined White Butterfly

5th April - Green-Veined White Butterfly

The green-veined white is probably the commonest and most widespread butterfly in the Highlands plus the Western Isles and Orkney but not in Shetland. It was first recorded in Orkney in the mid 1930s where it is now common. Later this month this butterfly will be seen flying in and around Inverness including gardens, large and small. The upper wings are whitish and the males have four spots, sometimes none at all, whilst the females have eight spots. The diagnostic feature of these butterflies are the underside of the hind wings as they have veins outlined in green, hence the name, although in fact this is a combination of black and yellow scales. The wing span is about 1 ¾ inches but occasionally dwarf specimens can be found only 1 inch across the wings.
There are three "white" butterflies in the Highlands and unfortunately gardeners often refer to all of them as "cabbage whites" because their caterpillars readily eat members of the cabbage family especially the cultivated ones. Traditionally it is the large white that was called the cabbage white because its caterpillars do so much damage to the garden cabbage patch. The small white does the same sort of damage although it is not so serious as their numbers are far fewer than the large white. It seems ironic that whilst many people will plant nectar source plants and shrubs to attract small tortoiseshells and red admirals the same people will think nothing of killing the caterpillars of both small and large whites or squashing their yellow eggs. In contrast the green-veined white is blameless as although the caterpillars will eat plants of the cabbage family it is only the wild varieties that are involved. The list of food plants for the caterpillars is one of the longest for any species of butterflies in the Highlands and includes cuckoo flower, hedge mustard and water-cress. This is one of the few butterflies in Britain, including the Highlands, where the numbers and distribution has not changed to any marked degree. In some areas it is often the only butterfly to be seen and perhaps this is a reflection on the wide range of food plants the caterpillars utilise.
Two of the white butterflies, namely the large and small whites, are regular immigrants to the Highlands from the continent and sometimes, particularly with the large white, the numbers can be huge. Two years ago white butterflies were seen coming across the sea to the east coast and numbered in their tens of thousands and as they were landing along the coast exhausted the various species of gulls were eating them. Whether the green-veined white is such an immigrant has long been open to debate. It seems likely that although in the north they are fairly sedentary and even form colonies some immigration takes place in some years but on nowhere near the scale of the other two whites.
The photograph was taken of a green -veined white taking nectar from an alpine aster in a garden near Inverness and the greenish veins on the underside of the wings contrast with the whitish and black spots of the upper wing It was sharing the nectar source with two small tortoiseshells and a painted lady. The advantage of such small plants is that they can be grown in pots and moved around the garden even on a daily basis to make sure the flower are in sunshine all the time.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Inverness

31st March - Inverness

Just in the same way as birds have adapted to living within the boundaries of the City of Inverness so have mammals although in general they are more cautious and often go undetected. Some such as otters and fox and to a certain extent roe deer are only active under the cover of darkness although this depends to a certain extent on weather and availability of food. If the weather is bad then food is more difficult to find and then, particularly if young have to be fed, the adults will throw caution to the wind and come out during daylight. Some mammals are active during the day but are still quite difficult to see and the red squirrel is a good example.
Perhaps the most obvious mammals to see during the day are seals in the River Ness and they can be either grey seal or the common seal and they have lead to one of the biggest wildlife controversies in recent years. At one extreme people say that the increasing numbers of grey seals in Scotland in general are having a dramatic affect on stocks of game fish such as salmon. Opponents say that there is no evidence of such damage and in any case if the game fish had not been over exploited by man in the first place the problem would not be there. It is difficult to know what to say in Inverness when you see an angler flogging the water to no avail and not far away a grey seal is throwing a sizeable salmon in the air and eating it.
What must be everyone’s favourite mammal in the city is the red squirrel and there are records from many areas such as the Ness Islands, Balloch and woodland near Ardconnel Terrace. At a meeting at Great Glen House, the new office of Scottish Heritage, staff were intrigued to see a red squirrel running along the top of a fence just outside a window. Road casualties unfortunately happen and along the road by the Ness Islands there are squirrel signs warning drivers that there may be squirrels crossing the road. There is a survey going on at present to find out where these attractive animals are still present and any records would be welcome, not only for Inverness but anywhere in the Highlands. The contact in the Forestry Commission at Dingwall is Juliet Robinson, Red Squirrel Conservation Officer. Tel. 07920213704 and her website is http://www.blogger.com/www.highlandredsquirrel.co.uk.
Another rather secretive mammal in the city is the otter and they are associated with the River Ness and Muirton Lagoons. In this area they are mainly nocturnal but one was seen at first light one morning in the summer crossing one of the bridges. Roe deer are also seen and in recent years they have caused damage to some gardens by browsing on trees and shrubs and debarking them. Fencing would seem to be the answer but unfortunately no fence has been designed that can keep roe deer out as they are so small and agile. They have even been known to have their kids in larger gardens and they often have twins that are hidden away in shrubberies and go un-noticed. There are other mammals too and some unwelcome such as the mink along the River Ness and the brown rat that seem everywhere and are now seen even in the day. A stoat was recently seen in the Inverness Railway station and other mammals in the city include mice, voles, rabbits and moles and with a few exceptions this is more or less a cross-section of those mammals in the surrounding countryside.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Rookery

24th March 2008 - Rookery

For the last few months in the Highlands rooks have gathered with their relatives the jackdaws, hooded crows and carrion crows to form large winter flocks sometimes numbering over a 1,000 birds in such place as Munlochy Bay and Ardersier both near Inverness. A few weeks ago all this changed as the hooded crows and carrion crows went their own way to nest as single pairs with their nests high in the forks of large trees although sometimes much lower. Jackdaws are more innovative, nesting in colonies and occupying a variety of nest sites from old buildings to crevices on cliffs. Rooks are much easier to see at this time of the year as they have gone back to their collection of nests, often very high in trees. They are conspicuous and very vociferous and we now have the chance to see more into their secret lives before the leaves grow on the trees and the birds are hidden away.
Now it is well worth watching the Inverness rookeries such as the large one along Culduthel Road near the Royal Academy School or the one out at Inshes. The Culduthel rookery is fairly contained in one large area of tall woodland whilst the Inshes rookery seems to sprawl out to the east and up the Drumossie Road so that it is difficult to see where it starts and ends. You can stand near either of them and the birds are so used to people that they just carry on with their often frantic looking activities. Whether or not nests remain from previous years is at the mercy of the winter storms but many pairs of rooks start from scratch as if not trusting the remains of nests after winter gales. At the start of nest building there is a great deal of stealing of other birds twigs even from the nest but by now the birds have settled down a little and it is normal to see one bird sat next to the nest and just see the head or tail of the other bird on the nest. The photograph was taken at the Culduthel rookery last week and you can just see the head of the rook on the right hand nest whilst its mate stands guard.
The rook has probably given its name to more places than any other British bird although in some case the word crow is used which, confusingly, is another name for
rook. Perhaps the best example in the north is the ancient rookery in Crow Wood, once known locally as "Craa Wid", at Hatton Castle, Aberdeenshire. As recently as 1957 it contained over 6,500 nests and although in recent years these have dropped to 2,600 nests, spread between 16 groups, it is still Britain’s largest rookery and, in fact, our largest breeding colony of any land bird. The Scots names of barefaced crow and white faced crow refers to the white, naked skin of the cheeks of the adult birds. Other Scots names include corbie, or Corby, ruik or ruke. The Gaelic name is Rocas which means rook. Over many years one of the biggest controversies has been whether the rook is harmful to agriculture but, whatever the answer, the control of rooks goes back a long way in Scotland. As early as 1424 there was legislation that landowners had to control the numbers of rooks. In the times of Elizabeth I bounty payments were paid by parish wardens at a penny for three adult rooks’ heads and a half penny for three young or three eggs. The young and eggs must have been difficult and dangerous to get in the high trees.