Feed

The time on Ben A'an seems to have flown by, but we have come to the end of our designated time working here. Though the stretch of path doesn't yet meet up with the original path we have made some great progress and built upon our pathwork skills in the process. Despite spending two separate weeks on work placements, I spent enough time on this work site to further my experience in stonework, revetment, extracting/utilising materials from borrow-pits, and general landscaping work. The final stretch of this path will be completed by a contractor, so I will be sure to head out to Ben A'an at some point next year to see how it turns out.

Yesterday we ran a 'Butterflies of the National Cycle Network' training course in Edinburgh. Anthony McCluskey of Butterfly Conservation delivered the training - we've worked with him for years and he's truly brilliant. We started with a morning indoor session for the 10 volunteers, then headed out to the Roseburn Path (NCN1) to see what we could find. We were in a small grassland patch next to the tram tracks, just before the route starts, finding moths and grasshoppers and chasing whites, when Anthony spotted a tiny fellow perched on a knapweed head. This was a Small Copper - absolutely stunning and seemingly happy to spend some time with us. I've been doing the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme surveys on this path for 2 or 3 years, and have never seen a Small Copper, yet with a bit of extra exploring on an overlooked patch, and some expertise, we found it. I can see that my surveys might take a little bit longer from now on....!

On the plus side, on the same visit to the wildflower patch, I was helped to identify this plant.....one of the umbellifers that I always confuse. This is Wild carrot, and once it has flowered, the umbel folds in and looks like a beautifully delicate tiny bird's nest. A lot of the plants on NCN768 also had one pink flower in the centre...apparently this is a definitive feature of Wild carrot, but not all specimens have it - including the one in my picture. On a training course in Edinburgh yesterday we saw some more Wild carrot, so I was able to tell the volunteers what it was. #sharing!

Last week we stopped by a wildflower area we've been working on on NCN768 between Alva and Tillicoultry in Clackmannanshire. It was stunning with lots of Marsh woundwort and Oxeye daisies and was covered in Soldier beetles and bumblebees (including new queens) and a beautiful Antler moth. But the patches on that path still need some tending with the docks and other ruderal plants pushing through. I asked my ecologist colleague what an interesting plant was...."that's the Burdock that we were pulling out last time"...the one I tried to learn a few blogs ago. Sigh. The memory skills of a 40-something. Oh well, learning is learning, even if you have to do it over and over again...!

This view of Parklea's garden area and the images below were taken by the John Muir Award participants whilst exploring their local area of the Parklea Branching Out grounds with staff from Community Learning and Development.

One of the beautiful water lilies growing in the pond at Parklea

A great image of one of Parklea's visitors. After taking the shot, the participants did a bit of research and discovered that you can tell the difference between a damsel and a dragon fly by looking at the way they hold their wings when not flying. Dragonflies hold their wings out to the side whilst the damselfly's wings will be held closed behind them, as in the pic. This info will be shared on information boards which those doing their John Muir Award are also involved with.

Exploring the grounds - searching for Parklea wildlife at the edge of the gardens, which are neighboured by a small wooded area on the other side of the fence.