Butterflies of South West Scotland an Atlas of their Distribution 2006

by Keith Futter, Richard Sutcliffe, David Welham, Anne Welham, A. John Rostron, Jessie MacKay, Neil Gregory, Jim McCleary, T. Norman Tait, Jim Black and Paul Kirkland

ISBN 1 902831 95 0

The book is available at £12.99 from Argyll Publishing. Cheques should be made payable to Argyll Publishing and sent to Argyll Publishing, Glendaruel, Argyll PA22 3AE.

At the AGM held in 2004 the Committee of the branch announced that it was going to produce an Atlas of the Butterflies found in South West Scotland.

Keith has co-ordinated the project and the good news is that the Atlas has been completed and is now available.

The book summarises the results of the survey of butterflies in our branch area undertaken during 1995- 2004.

There are colour maps for each of the 32 species showing distribution and abundance. Both Richard and Neil have put in a tremendous amount of effort in producing the maps.

The book is however more than a series of maps. It is beautifully illustrated with over 150 colour photographs showing all the butterflies recorded in our branch area. Some of the images are of butterflies in flight thanks to the photographic skill of Norman Tait. The book is worth getting just to see these, especially the images of the Dark Green Fritillary and Grayling in flight.

The introduction includes a comprehensive history of our branch which will appeal to members who have just joined our branch and to members who have been with us for several years. The branch is now over 20 years old and one of the main reasons for producing the atlas was to celebrate the first 20 years and highlight what we have accomplished.

There is also a site guide in the book which describes many of the best places to see butterflies in our branch area. It is separated into the regions - Dumfries & Galloway, Ayrshire, Greater Glasgow, Dunbartonshire, Stirlingshire and Argyll & the Isles.

The book is published by Argyll Publishing, a local publisher based in Glendaruel. Funding for the project has been very successful. We have been awarded grants from the Lottery Awards for All, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Blodwen Lloyd Binns Bequest (administered by the Glasgow Naturalists Trust) and the Royal Bank of Scotland to assist with the publication.

We hope you will enjoy the book which is hardback and 160 pages.