Hello lovely readers,
Wow, I can’t believe it’s May already – which means I’ve also been neglecting my duties to keep you informed. It is tough though, with so much happening. Field season has well and truly kicked off and we have been experiencing some spectacularly and uncharacteristically toasty weather. As a result, the bogs are a bit crispy, but are also teeming with flying wonders like Green Hairstreak butterflies (Callophrys rubi), a teeny yet speedy emerald-green butterfly who’s caterpillars feed on the bilberry/blaeberry (Vaccinium myrtillis) on bogs (amongst other food-plants). The cotton grass has also gone crazy and started carpeting the mire surfaces with tufts of gently-wafting white fluff.
My fieldwork is well underway, although at time sporadically slotted in-between training courses, events, site visits and meetings. I have been making use of my fiancé, Rory, who is an excellent field-assistant and helps me carry out some of the bog pool surveys. So far we’ve got a backlog of aquatic beetles, bugs, spiders, springtails (more on this later) and an array of larvae to identify back at the office. So far I’ve got through about, erm… three species of beetle from one pot, from one pool, from one site! Not very far. I’m sure things will speed up once I get the hang of counting the number of hairs on a 2mm long beetle’s femur.
I’ve recently begun to do a voluntary Breeding Bird Survey for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) up near Braco. This involves three visits to a grid square that you are allocated, one reconnaissance visit to record habitat, one early bird survey (April – mid May) and one late visit (June). It is best done early in the morning when the birds are nice and active. I saw two Tree Pipits (Anthus trivialis) and had fun trying to separate them from Meadow Pipits (Anthus pratensis) using my field guide. Recording birds in this way has inspired me to record wildlife such as reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals and the more easily-recognisable flying insects whilst out on site doing fieldwork. I am keeping digital records, submitting them also to Biological Recording in Scotland (BRISC) and also to BirdTrak on the BTO website. Its good fun and you can record stuff any time you step out your front door. The data is very helpful in updating species records for distribution and even common and widespread species can be under-recorded in some areas.
A friend I made at Kindrogan
Since my last Blog I’ve been attending some interesting training workshops. I had great one-2-one lichen training in early April with Vivyan Lisewski-Hobson (an ex-NT lichen apprentice), who helped me to identify and record lichens at Flanders Moss and Wester Moss. She is incredibly knowledgeable and even carries around a little pouch of chemicals for testing lichens in the field (some change colour when exposed to certain chemicals). I also attended a crazy Collembola (Springtail) course at Mar Lodge in the Cairngorms, which is absolutely stunning. I am now quite taken with Collembola… if you’re curious you should look them up, they’re beautiful and right under our noses! Finally, I just returned from the most hard-core course I’ve ever attended, at Kindrogan. Four days of Sphagnum ID with Martha Newton. She is one dedicated lady, I tell you. As confuddling as the massive amount of moss info was, I now find myself peeling back the branches of Sphagnums and peering at the stem leaves with my hand-lens whilst out and about.
This is a photo of Martha Newton's class of 2011, looking for mosses on the slopes of Glenshee
I suppose I better shut-it now, although there is so much more to tell. It will have to be saved for another day otherwise I will put you all off by writing too much. I’ll end with saying…
… There are many great things about my job as a Natural Talent apprentice (the wildlife, the people, travelling about Scotland) but above all it has allowed me to unleash my curiosity and enthusiasm for the world around me. I never want to become complacent about what’s outside my front door (or hiding under the bed) and I hope from now one that I won’t cease to ask questions…
Daisy the Bog Lady x