Boost to rare insect conservation with new breeding programme

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) is stepping up efforts to save rare Scottish insects by extending its successful invertebrate breeding programme to another endangered species.

After successes with pine hoverflies in the Cairngorms National Park, the wildlife conservation charity has started another vital breeding programme at Highland Wildlife Park. In Britain, habitat loss means that dark bordered beauty moths are currently only found in two populations in Scotland and one in England.

Working as part of the Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms partnership project, RZSS and other partners aim to release hundreds of caterpillars and moths into suitable habitats to boost numbers in the wild in Scotland. Their first breeding season produced 497 eggs from 40 individuals collected in the wild. These precious eggs are now overwintering in the charity’s dedicated breeding facilities ready for what are hoped to be the first releases and a bumper breeding season in 2023. 

Dr Helen Taylor, conservation programme manager at RZSS said “Invertebrates form a crucial part of our ecosystems but are often overlooked. We are so excited to take these steps to help restore dark bordered beauty moth populations and uncover more about this elusive species which very little is known about. 

“Our charity’s dedicated team’s close monitoring of our conservation breeding population is already providing new insights into reproductive and ecological behaviours that have never been observed before. 

“As we face biodiversity loss across the globe, we need to do more to protect all species, big and small. Species like dark bordered beauty moths play important roles in the ecosystems they live in, such as pollinating plants and forming part of complex food webs. When we lose these species, we lose the functions they perform and, slowly but surely, our ecosystems will stop functioning. We recognise the importance of rare invertebrates in Scotland and are heavily investing in reversing their decline.” 

Tom Prescott, senior conservation officer at Butterfly Conservation Scotland said: “It is very exciting to see different organisations come together to help enhance the conservation status of one of the country’s rarest moths. It’s only through team working that real change can be made and we’re looking forward to seeing the difference that this project will make to this threatened species, and wider biodiversity.” 

This work is possible thanks to the Cairngorms National Park Authority and People’s Postcode Lottery.

The dark bordered beauty moth breeding programme is in collaboration with the Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms project, a partnership between the RSPB, Cairngorms National Park Authority, RZSS, Buglife Scotland, Butterfly Conservation Scotland, and NatureScot.