Every month at Montrose Basin visitor centre has been themed this year to give a little extra to our visitors.  We started September by taking part in ‘National Moth Night’.  We were delighted to welcome Paul Brookes, our local moth recorder for the East Scotland branch – Butterfly Conservation.  Paul has been moth trapping at Montrose Basin Nature Reserve for a number of years now and continues to find new species records for the site. This year alone he has caught 12 new species of Moth, previously recorded in other parts of Angus but new to the reserve.

During our event at the visitor centre for national moth night we had 21 eager moth enthusiasts joining us to learn more about moths.

In addition to our successful night, we have also had the pleasure of hosting a wonderful exhibition by Charlotte Craig, a graduate from the Glasgow School of Art.  It has been up in the mezzanine all month and we have had lots of positive feedback from it.

Charlotte’s work explores the relationship between man-made and natural environments ‘how we mark the land and the land marks us’. As part of her final degree art show; she has made several moths, all from natural materials, such as grasses and seeds. Even her paint was made from leaf mulch, charcoal and blue-green algae. The project was initiated with the help of Butterfly Conservation, and 15% of any prints or greetings cards sold is going to the charity.

The exhibit will be with us for a few more days, so if you want to see them then come along ASAP! Otherwise, they are heading to the Scottish Natural Heritage Battleby Centre near Perth for exhibit next month.

We would like to thank Charlotte for letting us show off her wonderful work and we hope to do more collaborations in the future.

Emma Castle-Smith – Visitor Centre Assistant Manager