CONSERVATION MANAGER’S NOTES

Well, we certainly got enough rain to keep Bankhead Moss topped up through 2004 and some additional plastic dams have been installed by the weekend volunteers and the Dundee training team to hold as much water back as possible and keep the peat saturated. Dragonflies (including Golden-Ringed) made the most of the warmer autumn days, which also produced an excellent show of fungi on many of the sites.

The grasslands of Lielowan Meadow, Fleecefaulds Meadow, Cullaloe and Kilminning Coast have been grazed by the Flying Flock and we have been grazing throughout the year to restore under-grazed areas. The annual monitoring is showing improvements in the condition of the grasslands and this will, in time, lead to the spread of the small plants and flowers that make these sites so important. The Fife team have cut and collected the grassland areas at Carlingnose Point and Cullaloe where we can’t use the sheep and hay-cut an area at Kilminning Coast to help the sheep graze more effectively.

The weekend volunteers have carried out some great work recently including coppicing at Cullaloe, clearing the ditch at Barnyards Marsh and birch control at Bankhead Moss.

If you want to get involved in practical conservation work on the reserves, then please find the list of tasks in the Programme section and give me a call to get further details.

Something that everyone can help out with is the Central Scotland Squirrel Survey. Survey sheets are available from me or on the SWT website, which you can take out on a walk to any wood in Fife, Stirling or Clackmannanshire and record any sightings of both Red and Grey Squirrels. Now is a great time as the squirrels become more active into February and March and you can see them before the buds burst and the leaves obscure the view. All sightings will help identify changes in distribution of both squirrels which can target management to help protect the threatened populations of Red Squirrels.

Please call on 01324 666654 if you want any further information or if you have any comments or inquiries about the work we do.

Steve Blow