A rare moth which disguises itself as a bumblebee, has been unexpectedly discovered at a Lanarkshire nature reserve, far from its normal Highland base.

The Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk is a day-flying moth that closely resembles a bumblebee. It buzzes like a bee and can even hover bee-like when feeding at flower heads.

The insect is scarce in the UK and is also rare in Scotland where it is typically found in Argyll and elsewhere in the Highlands. But it is thought it is being attracted south by the appearance of a particular plant at new locations.

The insect was discovered by volunteers from the UK charity Butterfly Conservation, which is dedicated to halting the rapid decline of butterflies and moths and protecting the environment.

The charity has formed a Bog Squad of volunteers. They have been working this summer to restore peatland habitats at Kingshill Local Nature Reserve near the village of Allanton in North Lanarkshire where they discovered the moth.

David Hill, Bog Squad Project Officer, said it mimicked the bumblebee for protection from predators, and continued:

“We think it is appearing at new locations where the plant Devil's-bit Scabiousis is found to be growing. It feeds on it when in caterpillar form. We were just about to begin our work when an eagle-eyed volunteer spotted the moth. It was a very exciting moment for everyone and an entirely unexpected discovery.”

He said bog restoration was important because peatlands were very precious wild spaces in central Scotland where farming is become more intensively managed. “It is a refuge for many species of wild life, but there is one butterfly which is rarely found anywhere else – the Large Heath butterfly.”

His Bog Squad team is a volunteer task force, helped by another volunteer group from Greenhead Moss Community Nature Park in Wishaw. They have successfully cleared seedlings from half a hectare of bog and has created five ditch blocking dams.

The squad was created to carry out rehabilitation works on damaged peat bogs across the Central Belt, with funding from Scottish Natural Heritage’s (SNH) Peatland Action project.

SNH says that peat soils in Scotland contain almost 25 times as much carbon as all other plant life in the UK. The carbon stored in Scotland's soils (notably peat and peaty soil) is equivalent to over 180 years of greenhouse gas emissions from Scotland at current emission rates.