What a busy few weeks! Our summer season has been thundering along and we have been making the most of the sunny weather out on the bog and attending local gala days and shows.
The giants on the moss (3 large willow heads) are going to have some company soon with the form of giant insects and plants taking over the nature trail and boardwalk. It is part of a project created by vision mechanics who are better known for their giant puppet performances making use of cityscapes. The Giant’s have been created from willow with the help of local artists and decorated by local children. It was a great way to introduce the wildlife of the bog to the general public and discuss their life history. A favourite among young and old alike was the carnivorous sundew. A plant that has adapted to the low nutrient content of the bog by trapping and consuming insects. This amazing plant was, we discovered, a difficult subject for willow crafting. Each leaf has a number of hairs topped with a globular solution that will both attract and trap insects. The general leaf shape was easy to create but the hairs were a completely different challenge as each had to be topped with a small willow ball to represent the liquid. Sadly all our attempts came to nothing and our creation looked nothing like a sundew, let alone a plant. I think in future I will leave our willow crafting to our artists – they make it look simple but a fantastic amount of skill is involved.
Our stand at the Crinan Water festival proved very popular
We turned our hands to the medieval uses of the bog in our medicinal and edible plants workshop. Patsy, Kilmartin Museums resident botanist, demonstrated her fabulous breadth of knowledge as only she could – exploring how a medieval person would create a splendid banquet from the plants to be found on site, right down to the liquors. We then had a practical session where people could try a variety of plants and make their own talcum powder and bath bombs. It was a fantastic session of storytelling, tasting and introducing people to the world of foraging.
Feverfew does not taste as good as it looks!
Finally, after a hard start to the season, butterfly numbers seem to have exploded on and around the moss. Our bi-monthly nature walk has been more like a butterfly ramble with spectacular numbers of scotch argus, small tortoise shell, meadow brown and the occasional small copper on the wing. It has been an unusual year for butterflies with a slow start to the season, but numbers have picked up throughout the season and it has been great for us to see so many in one spot. Our butterfly season is almost at an end which is always a sad thing, but on the plus side the hen harrier winter roost count is approaching with the opportunity to recruit new volunteers and hopefully get some spectacular views of this rare bird.
The Scotch Argus was spectacular in such large numbers