Meloe, is it me you are looking for?

11 Aug 2014

Trainee ecologist Kirsty Godsman tells us about a recent trip to the island of Coll.

Meloe, is it me you are looking for?

If you have read my previous blogs, you will be aware of a group of beetles called Oil Beetles (of the genus Meloe). There are 5 species belonging to this genus in the UK and all are fairly uncommon. Some are incredibly rare. I was sent on a mission back in May to try to find one of these rarer beetles on the Hebridean island of Coll along with RSPB colleagues, James Silvey and Genevieve Dalley and invertebrate experts, Scott Shanks and Suzanne Bairner from Buglife. The beetle in question was the Short-necked Oil Beetle (Meloe brevicollis) and, until about 2008, it was thought to be extinct in the UK. At present there are two small populations in the UK – one in Devon and the other in Coll.

Genevieve, myself, Suzanne and James off to search for Oil Beetles in the sand dunes

Arriving on the ferry from Oban, our hopes were high as the weather report was good (for the next few days at least) and we were well prepared. So we enthusiastically packed our lunch and loaded up the car and, just as we were about to set off to meet Ben, the RSPB warden on Coll, there was a sudden, loud, thunder clap! Now, a little rain won’t put off your average ecologist but it certainly will cause most of the insect life to scarper for shelter! Nevertheless, we stuck to the plan and headed for our first site – waterproofs and all. It was cold, windy and wet and we weren’t finding much but the weather was slowly becoming favourable again. Heads down, we searched until...

Short-necked oil beetle (Meloe brevicollis).

Found one! Everyone rushed over to see what Suzie had found and, sure enough, we had our first Short-necked Oil Beetle (Meloe brevicollis). Now the sun had come out and the wildlife seemed to be following it as we were up to 5 oil beetles in no time and started to see some of Coll’s other incredible invertebrates such as the Red-shanked Carder Bee (Bombus ruderarius) and the Moss Carder Bee (B. muscorum).

Moss carder bee (Bombus muscorum) and Red-shanked carder bee (Bombus ruderarius).

Although relatively common on Coll, both of these species are very rare on the mainland but so it was an absolute treat to get to see so many. After the first day we had seen 50 Short-necked oil beetles and a whole range of other bits and bobs, including a sighting of a Corncrake – what a great start!

A calling Corncrake (Crex crex).

As the sun was shining on day two, we all felt quietly (or maybe not so quietly?) confident about what we might find on our hunt. And sure enough, we found plently! On top of more oil beetles, we saw some Green Hairstreak butterflies (Callophrys rubi), lots of Dor beetles and some Belted Beauty moths (Lycia zonaria).

James and Suzanne searching for oil beetles, a Green Hairstreak butterfly (Callophrys rubi) and a Spring Dumbledor beetle (Trypocopris vernalis).

A male Belted beauty moth (Lycia zonaria) – females are wingless.

On day three, we were going to go all out and try to find oil beetles at a new site in the south of the island. But the weather was really not on our side. Cold, wet and windy, we walked for hours and hours looking for the beetles and found nothing. The habitat looked perfect but the cold had chased everything into hiding... or had it? Were they even there at all? Were we imagining things?

Day 3 – cold and misty but still pretty!

We had just one day left to hunt for oil beetles and it was cloudy but warm. So we split up to increase our chances of finding anything. It was a slow start but eventually we started finding them! So we decided to move on to some un-surveyed sites including yesterday’s seemingly ideal dune grassland. After much debate over where we were and where we were supposed to be (it really should have been more straightforward on an island with as few roads as Coll) Genevieve and I set off into a field looking for oil beetles. As we topped the small hill in front of us, we were confronted with dune grasslands as far as the eye could see... very promising. We began looking for a good, sheltered slope to start looking but before we could reach one, we found a little male Short-necked oil beetle at our feet. After a short photo-shoot, we started searching for more. And we were not disappointed. As it got late we made our way back to our rendezvous point with James to see if he had found anything in the south. It was a hugely successful day in the end with another 47 Short-necked Oil Beetles (156 in total), two new sites for the species on Coll and some very happy beetle hunters!

A happy beetle hunter and a very obliging oil beetle!

Have you spotted any oil beetles lately? Be sure to let Buglife know via: http://www.buglife.org.uk/oil-beetle-survey _