Spotters’ guide to – creepy crawlies

Wherever

you walk, you’re bound to get up close and personal to some fascinating creepy crawlies.

77 species of land snail and around 14,000 species of insect live in Scotland, including a species of wolf spider, with its black and white stripes, first found in Abernethy Forest nature reserve, and the Scottish wood ant. These big black ants, which are the most numerous residents of the Caledonian pine forest, build mounds from the pine cones and needles they find on the forest floor.

Thenorthern Colletes is a rare species of bee, with more than 10 colonies in the Outer Hebrides. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust recently created the world’s first sanctuary for the blaeberry bumblebee at RSPB Vane Farm Nature Reserve near Loch Leven.

Look out for dragonflies and damselflies too — Scotland is home to a number of quite rare ones, especially in the south and on the west coast.

Dung beetles lay their eggs in dung. The grubs which hatch provide a useful meal fo r some birds and mammals, as well as helping to break matter down to provide nutrients for plantlife. One type is called the minotaur beetle — it has black horns like a miniature bull.

Brightly-coloured soldier beetles tend to move a lot faster than the heavily-armoured dung beetles, scuttling rapidly over the forest floor.

The endangered five-spot ladybird can often be found near wood ant colonies, as both ladybirds and ants use aphids (like greenfly) for a food source. The ladybirds’ bright red colouring and bitter taste both say ‘keep off’ to predators.

Possibly the best-known insect is the midge, the tiny flying gnat that is the bane of summer visitors and residents alike. Apparently, its bites account for the loss of up to 20% of summer working days in the forestry industry!

There are around 60 species of moth in the UK and if you’re walking in the Cairngorms, you may be lucky enough to spot the very rare netted mountain moth— it’s sooty black with fine, white-grey markings. You can buy special jars with a magnifying lense lid with which to catch and observe beetles, spiders etc, but keep the insect in it for as short a time as possible to minimise stress and always release it in the same spot you caught it.