The Burnets of Talisker Bay

Way back at the start of July, I offered to lead a couple of Skye-based naturalists to the slopes of Talisker Bay in search of rare moths. Bob is the Skye bird recorder and Martin is the newbie to butterflies and moths who discovered Chequered Skippers here on Skye this spring (can't wait until he's an expert..!) Neither Bob nor Martin had seen Talisker Burnet or Transparent Burnet, both of which occur at Talisker Bay. Finding these moths isn't as easy as just rocking up and looking, you need to have an eye for where certain plants grow and you need to throw yourself up some ridiculously steep slopes. Well, cliffs. 

We were heading for the grassy areas beyond the boulder beach

I'm in my early 50s and it's fair to say that both Bob and Martin are considerably older. I may be no spring chicken, but I held serious reservations about the other two even making it across the boulders, never mind up the actual slope I was aiming for. Happily, they soon joined me at the base of the cliffs where I pointed out a few patches of Meadow Vetchling growing through the sparsely vegetated lower slopes, this being the typical larval foodplant of Talisker Burnet. The adults generally buzz slowly across the open slopes, pausing periodically at Devil's-bit Scabious, Wild Thyme and plantains, all of which grow here in abundance. The slopes are hard work, watching an unidentified burnet buzz by twenty feet higher up the slope usually results in frustration rather than a chase.

Talisker Burnet is an endemic subspecies of Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet. It is only known from four isolated sites in the whole world, all of them right here on Skye. If you want to see it, you need to come here and prepare for some physical exertion. I should state now that no adventurers died in the making of this blog piece, though Martin did have a few hairy moments (he's not great at heights) and Bob restricted himself to the bottom of the slopes. A somewhat awkward fact seeing as I found myself looking at this pristine Talisker Burnet a long way upslope of him

Talisker Burnet!

I called across to Martin, owner of a large lens camera, and he (ever so carefully) worked his way across to me, grinning with relief as I pointed at the moth a few feet ahead of where I was kneeling, and then took a barrage of frankly stunning images. He later found a pair for himself and took yet more sickeningly good images. Far below, I could see Bob pointing his own big lens at something in the grasses. I really hoped it was a Talisker Burnet, he's not the kind of guy who enjoys being gripped off. 

Martin then called me over to check a pair of burnets that were feeding at a flowerhead, he thought they looked different. I headed over to see what he'd found, becoming somewhat entangled in what I can only describe as a vertical bramble patch. Eventually I clawed my way to where he stood.

Two Transparent Burnets jostling for position on a Ribwort Plantain head

Transparent Burnet is another range-restricted species, though nowhere near as restricted as Talisker Burnet. It occurs throughout many of the Inner Hebridean islands, but it also occurs on the mainland at Ardnamurchan, near Oban and with an isolated population on the Mull of Kintyre. It was a new moth for Martin, and would be for Bob too were he able to get up here. Oh dear, I really really hoped Bob was finding stuff at the foot of the slopes. I needn't have worried.

Bob photographing his first ever Talisker Burnet. Phew!

I think this was the only Talisker Burnet that Bob saw, Martin and I had seen a couple more at height, but he'd also found a few Transparent Burnets buzzing around the undercliff beside him whilst Martin and I clambered far above. With the pressure off, both guys having skored the required burnets, I was free to wander around poking my head at whatever took my fancy. Happily for Bob and Martin this included their first ever Dew Moths, a pair in cop amongst deep grasses. Not a great pic, but you can see what they are at least.

Dew Moths in cop, the larger female above the smaller male

This is the Talisker Burnet that Bob was busy papping

A slightly raggedy Transparent Burnet, living up to its name!

As an aside, Talisker Bay remains the only site where I've encountered Talisker Burnet, Transparent Burnet and Dew Moth. It's a great bit of habitat and happily is likely to remain just as great for the foreseeable future. There's no farming or grazing pressure here, footfall is essentially limited to a handful of folks looking for the burnets, or maybe the odd scenery photographer, and the soil is too thin to support anything more substantial than the occasional bramble patch.    

Though I've known Bob for several years now, this was my first time meeting Martin. They've been friends for decades, if the banter between them is anything to go by. We did agree to meet up again soon, but somehow we never got around to it. Both are keen to become more familiar with various insect groups on Skye, I feel that 2026 may bring more adventures for the three of us. I certainly hope so!