Jack and Tim's wildlife holiday

Jack and Tim, two young visitors to Islay recently thrilled us with their passion and enthusiasm for wildlife - craneflies and all! They traversed through bog and midges, seeking out some of the island's finest gems including the rarely encountered Narrow bordered bee hawkmoth, hundreds of Marsh fritillaries, hunting Hen harriers, and even the Osprey!

"Just when we thought it couldn't get any better we found 2 Narrow Bordered Bee Hawkmoths feeding on the flowers and Jack had another flyby!"



Whooper swan at Gruinart- only a handful stay over the summer.



Thank you both for sharing your stories and photos, and see you the next time.





Baby Stonechat



Marsh fritillary - It's encouraging to hear of this rare species finally on the wing after slow caterpillar growth this year.



Narrow bordered bee hawkmoth

Lorna



Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk Moth

A representative of Butterfly Conservation Scotland was over last week surveying Marsh Fritillary caterpillars. He really liked our butterfly display! He's going to send more records, but for now sent in this great photo of a Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk Moth larva. Thanks Paul!
Becky

Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk Moth caterpillar

Hemaris tityus - Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth

I'm so excited because yet another 'Bumble Bee' has turned out to be interesting. On our ramble today I just managed to get a quick photo of this insect as it flitted about amongst the Marsh Lousewort. I have to confess I thought it was a Bumble Bee, but later thought its proboscis was a bit long so uploaded it to ISpot for comments. The consensus is Hemaris tityus or Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth which, although not rare, is certainly a new species for me and I'm sorry it didn't hover around long enough for others to see.

Becky