Hello readers… It’s Daisy (the bog lady) here. It’s been a while since I last posted so I thought I’d let you all know what’s been happening in the life of the lowland raised bog apprentice. There’s lots to tell so I’ve broken it all down into bite-sized chunks for you!
Surveying
I was fortunate to go out with a lovely ecologist called Pete (appropriate name) who has been visiting a great many bogs in the local area and further afield. I helped him stick rods into the bog to measure the peat depth – which didn’t work because the rod got too hard to pull back out after 7 metres!!!! I’m pretty sure we could have carried on. I learnt a lot from his survey methods that will help inform my own when I go out to survey Falkirk bogs (which are numerous and often undervalued) next month.
Craneflies
My new passion is for the humble daddy-long-legs, a fascinating group of flies which make excellent indicators for bog wetness as many are semi-aquatic, their larvae developing in bog pools and wet moss hummocks. I have been spending many an hour at home with my microscope going through test keys and trying to identify my specimens. For more info visit my personal blog: http://dizzbug.blogspot.com/.
Lepidoptera
In mid-May I helped out with a survey for Pearl Bordered Fritillary butterflies at Loch Katrine, which Jane Jones from the Forestry Commission, Alex Hogg (Natural Communities apprentice for Butterfly Conservation) and Nick Cooke. It was a tough old day walking up and down the steep slopes, and we found plenty of good habitat for the butterflies, but no butterflies to be seen. I also attended a mothing night at Wester Moss, organised by Alex Hogg. It was cold and drizzly but we caught a Peppered moth (Biston betularia), which was a highlight for me, as I’d not seen it before.
Events
May and June have been full of events (well, it feels like it). See below for info on the “Celebrating Nature” event at Aviemore. Gardening Scotland was a big success, although shattering beyond belief! Hayley (Pinewoods), Hannah (Soil) and I had to deliver talks (x3 each!) during the three days, which was very scary – but it all paid off in the end. I think I’ve already noticed a difference in my confidence levels. We also shared our love of bugs with a lot of kids and adults (and bug-murderous gardeners) so I hope some of it has rubbed off.
Fun
I’ve been a very spoilt apprentice recently, as I got to attend both the BTCV Staff Conference (which sounds dull, but wasn’t) and the annual Buglife Outing. The former was held at Crieff Hydro – which is an amazing hotel in beautiful surroundings AND A SPA!!! It was a great chance to let off steam, but I can’t say it was relaxing because we had sports-day activities and danced the night away. My muscles took days to recover and my waist-line still hasn’t (loads of grub). The Buglife Outing was in Dorset and Devon and I spent the whole week away with the whole team. We got to stay in a beautiful Victorian Mansion and saw many amazing bugs…
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Buglife checking out ladybird spiders down south
IUCN Peatland Conference
Despite all the fun, by far the highlight of the last few months was attending the IUCN’s “Investing in Peatlands, Delivering Multiple Benefits” conference at Stirling Uni. It doesn’t sound all that exciting, I know, but I got to learn tons about peatland restoration in a wider context, and I rubbed shoulders with important folk involved with peatland conservation. I even managed to impress them when we took some of the delegates out for a walk around Fallin Bing and Wester Moss in Stirling. We plan to have a Bioblitz at Wester Moss on Wednesday 13th July, so come along if you can make it!!!
Bye for now,
Daisy x