Rotting fish lures rare beetle at Loch Leven

Rotting fish have proved the key to discovering the presence of one of the world’s most endangered insect species in Scotland.

The stinking remains were used to bait “traps” at the Loch Leven nature reserve and resulted in a large number of Thanatophilus dispar being found.

The scavenging beetle, or carrion beetle, is classed as critically endangered in the UK and is globally rare.

The RSPB Scotland discovery makes the nature reserve one of only two places the beetle has been found in Scotland.

Assistant warden Anna Jemmet thought the wetland habitat and loch shore had the potential to provide a home.

A survey was conducted using 10 “pitfall traps” that used rotten haddock as a lure as the beetle feeds on decomposing fish.

Staff were delighted with the results as 11 Thanatophilus dispar beetles were found, having been trapped in three different locations around the reserve. All the sites were on sandy beaches at the edge of Loch Leven.

It is thought the numbers found may be evidence of a larger population on the Kinross-shire reserve.