This last weekend the Bog Squad visited Kingshill Local Nature Reserve near Allanton in North Lanarkshire. After the horrible weather of the day before, we got lucky with an almost rain-free day and even managed to get some much needed sunshine. On our way to the bog an eagle-eyed volunteer spotted a slightly strange looking bee which actually turned out to be a moth!
The moth in question is the delightful Narrow-bordered Bee Hawkmoth which is nationally scarce and only known from a few sites in central Scotland. That was just the beginning of a series of mothy interruptions to our work......
We did manage to complete a fair bit of work too though and during the day cleared around a half a hectare of young birch seedlings from an area of bog. In addition to this we also surveyed the depth of peat in the bog at regular intervals using our peat probe. Some interesting results were produced with a maximum depth of 4.5 metres recorded although the bog was more usually around 3 metres deep. With peat formation rates often estimated at 1 millimeter per year this mean that the bog here is around 3-4 thousand years old!!
A big thank you to all those who came along to help including the enthusiastic volunteers from Greenhead Moss. Hope to see you all again soon. | Last year some scrub was cleared by volunteers from a patch of blaeberry with the aim of improving the habitat for Green Hairstreak butterflies. We had an opportunity during a sunny spell to take a look and spotted 13 of the little green critters so clearly the work was appreciated! |