Insect found in Scotland for first time on RSPB reserve

 13:54 Tuesday 02 August 2016

A new bug has been officially recorded in Scotland for the first time. The black and red female Psallus montanus was discovered by Bob Fleetwood, a volunteer for RSPB Scotland, at the charity's Insh Marshes nature reserve near Kingussie in the Highlands.

The black and red female Psallus montanus was discovered at the RSPB's Insh Marshes nature reserve near Kingussie in the Highlands Mr Fleetwood, who has volunteered at the reserve for four years, spotted the insect while collecting and recording beetles and bugs from a birch tree.

He said: "Of all the bugs I came across that day, this one looked quite distinctive. "As I'm still learning, I wasn't 100% certain what it was, so I contacted the national recorder for terrestrial bugs, Jim Flanagan, who positively identified it as a female Psallus montanus. "When I got the confirmation back that this was the first official record of this bug in Scotland, of course I was over the moon. Every day is different when you're volunteering and this just goes to show that you don't have to be an expert to play a part in an exciting discovery like this."

Pete Moore, reserve warden at Insh Marshes, said: "Volunteers are vital to the work of RSPB Scotland and we wouldn't be able to achieve the amount we do for conservation without all of their hard work. "We're delighted for Bob in making this exciting discovery and it's a brilliant record to add to the growing list of species we have here at Insh Marshes too."

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Water vole returns to RSPB site in Scottish Highlands after 20 year hiatus

The endangered water vole has returned to RSPB Insh Marshes after 20 year absence.

The small chubby rodent, which inspired the character Ratty in the children’s novel Wind in the Willows, was last seen at the reserve in Strathspey more than two decades ago and ecologists believe its reappearance is a result of work to eradicate American mink.

Predation by the American mink and habitat loss has led water vole to being the UK’s fastest declining mammal with numbers having dropped by 90 per over the last 40 years.

However, since 2011 the Scottish Mink Initiative has worked alongside organisations and landowners like the RSPB to eradicate mink from large parts of northern Scotland, including the Cairngorms National Park and Insh Marshes. This has allowed water voles to re-establish themselves in those areas.

RSPB Officer, James Silvey, said: “Water voles are extremely important mammals because they’re a really good sign of a healthy wetland environment.

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