Rare beetles found on Uist 11/8/11
A survey of the globally important Uist machair is shedding new light on some of its smallest inhabitants.
Recent results for the Machair LIFE+ project discovered the Silphid beetle which is extremely rare and in danger of extinction amongst hundreds of species, several of which are very rare.
Ecologists surveying plots of the machair across North and South Uist, Berneray and Benbecula, sifted through over 30,000 beetles and identified 222 different species including 36 which are new records to the islands.
Of these, 14 species have formal conservation status and three are noted on a global threatened list.
In addition to beetles, several species of native grasshopper, such as the mottled grasshopper, were found in abundance across the islands along with two rare species of bumblebee, the Moss carder bee and the Great Yellow Bumblebee.
Insects are considered to be barometers for biodiversity and the success of agricultural systems in supporting wildlife. As well as being valuable in their own right, they are an essential food source for many rare and protected bird species such as the corncrake.
Rebecca Cotton, Machair LIFE+ Project Manager, said: “This shows that traditional methods of working the land by local crofters, such as applying seaweed as fertiliser, helps to create a biodiverse machair. We know that the machair is rich for birds and plants but confirmation of the bug life is fantastic news.”
Surveys commenced in 2010 and will run for the next two years to further determine the affects of agricultural methods on insects and other wildlife.