Some Wheatear images from Anne Gardiner

Gailes Marshes 24th April 2021

Gill's Summary of Wildlife Reserve Operations

July to September 2021

Please click below and scroll down for the full report

• Gill's Summary of Wildlife Reserve Operations Jan - Mar 21

• Gill's Summary of Wildlife Reserve Operations Oct- Dec 2020

• Gill's Summary of Wildlife Reserve Operations July - Sept 2020

• Gill's Summary of Wildlife Reserve Operations April - June 2020

• Gill's Summary of Wildlife Reserves for the first quarter of 2020

August- September 2019

The images below are from Anne Gardiner -

" Hiding and sunbathing ( lizards, not Anne ) 13C but these little lizards were trying to get a bit of warmth on the old trees, at Shewalton. "

The third image, also taken by Anne, clearly shows 2 ticks attached, just above left front leg.

Summary of Wildlife Reserve Operations

April - June 2019

South West Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde

Thanks to Gill Smart, SWT Reserves Manager for South West, we have an insight to the work carried out on the Reserves,

by the teams of both local and European volunteers plus the information they collect and record.

A wealth of 'behind the scenes' information and up to date sightings of the flora and fauna found on these Reserves

Enjoy !

1. Ayr Gorge Woodlands

a) The Reserves Project Officer South West (Sandy) spot sprayed the few giant hogweed plants that he could locate. This annual vigilance has stopped the invasive plant from re-gaining a foothold.

b) The Community Engagement Officer (Harry) showed eleven people from Freda’s Walks, a local walking group, round the reserve.

2. Auchalton Meadow

a) The Reserves Project Officer South (Chris) and his team rolled and beat the bracken on the main meadow. This plant continues to decline, allowing the species-rich grassland to flower, including many greater butterfly orchids.

3. Corsehillmuir Wood

a) Sandy’s team undertook the early summer access strimming work.

b) Trust volunteers teamed up Promoting Kilwinning for a 'Spring Clean' round the reserve. They removed a large amount of fly-tipping from the roadside and assorted litter from within the woodland, including a huge messy tangle of plastic rubbish and tangled branches that was causing the burn to flood the path. North Ayrshire Council uplifted 25 bags and all the other larger junk collected.

c) The Weekday Volunteers moved a redundant but sturdy board-walk into a position where another one had to be replaced. They also search for, re-located and recorded the current condition of, the set of archaeological features identified in a 2007 report. The volunteers enjoyed the activity and plan to build on it by further investigating the industrial and social history of this and other Ayrshire reserves.

Corsehillmuir Wood boardwalk © SWT & Dalmellington Moss survey © Scott Shanks - Photos below

4. Dalmellington Moss

a) The East Ayrshire Coalfield Environment Initiative (CEI) volunteers, led by Scott Shanks, kindly carried out a Large Heath butterfly survey for us. Not only did they find a healthy population of the target species but also saw Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, not previously recorded for the reserve.

5. Feoch Meadows

a) Chris’s team cut the grass in the car park and surveyed the stiles to establish what materials were required to make repairs and improve their function.

6. Gailes Marsh

a) Sandy’s team replaced a line of rotten fence posts and a failed gatepost.

b) The Weekday Volunteers and some from our new “green health” initiative have kept the tree nursery in good shape and carried out small jobs around the reserve - mending broken fencing, leveling the wildlife pond, cutting back invasive sycamore trees and removing redundant fencing. Both groups have also been involved in the weekly butterfly surveys.

c) The Leapfrog Wildlife Watch Club regularly use Gailes Marsh for their activities. This quarter they held two events - Amazing Amphibians and Beautiful Beasties.

d) One of the Watch Club members won a competition to design the new paintwork on Sustrans Scotland’s Millennium Milestone near the reserve. It is now colourfully illustrated with a bee, ladybird and frog.

Painting the milestone © SWT & Grazing Garnock Floods © SWT - Photos below

7. Garnock Floods

a) The Weekend Volunteers rescued dozens of aspen trees that they had planted last year from rampant riverside vegetation. They installed more robust tree guards, to protect them into future, and make them easier to find next year. They also joined the annual battle against Himalayan Balsam.

b) Sandy’s team undertook invasive plant control (Giant Hogweed and Himalayan Balsam) and maintained the grass footpath.

c) A pair of Garganey were observed from the new hide in April which is now getting regular use from some keen and skilful local bird watchers.

d) Following a very wet April, the reserve became drier over the summer than it has been in the past. This was attributed more to the weather conditions than the new water control system. Nevertheless, an element of the latter has resulted in less water lying in some areas, allowing the cattle access to graze it down and make mud attractive to waders and other insectivorous birds.

e) The willows that were laid, trimmed and planted last quarter put on significant growth over the summer, forming a leafy screen between the riverbank path and the flooded meadow.

Planting aspen © SWT & Fixing the boardwalk © SWT - Photos below

8. Knockshinnoch Lagoons

a) Our European Volunteers, supported by Erasmus+, planted 100 aspen trees on the bing, ten each from a different clone. It is part of an Eadha Enterprises experiment to find out which aspen clone survive best on coal spoil, for the future greening of old opencast sites. The trees were checked seven weeks later. All but six of them had survived the prolonged dry spell well, some even putting on significant growth.

b) The European Volunteers refurbished the boardwalk that facilitates access to the reserve for those approaching on foot from the town instead of driving to the car park.

c) The CEI held an Introduction to Pollinators workshop at Knockshinnoch Lagoons on a sunny May day. They recorded 10 species of bee, 5 species of butterflies, 6 species of hoverflies & many other invertebrates. Highlights included Heath bumblebees, Gypsy cuckoo bumblebees, Blaeberry mining-bees, Fabricius’ nomad bees and Green hairstreak butterflies. The last is an exciting and unexpected new butterfly species for this reserve.

d) The count of Lesser butterfly orchids this year was only 16. While down on previous years it is probably no cause for concern as orchid number are known to fluctuate widely. They were later flowering too, so there could have been more to come after the survey visit.

9. Lawthorn, Perceton and Sourlie Woods

a) Sandy’s team maintained all the paths and undertook the control of invasive plants on these three small Irvine Greenspace Reserves.

b) The Weekday volunteers cleared every bit of litter they could find on these reserves and ensured no brambles or branches encroached on the paths.

c) The Weekend Volunteers carried out survey work at Sourlie and Lawthorn, including a check of the bird box they installed in previous years.

10. Oldhall Ponds

a) Sandy cut the rosebay willow herb infested meadow using a new flail attachment for the quad bike. Because we have been doing this for several years now, the plant has reduced sufficiently in vigour to not require a major rake up job at this time. There is visibly more grass and wildflowers than tall herb now – which the rabbits are currently keeping in check!

b) Sandy’s team commenced the Himalayan Balsam control and maintained the footpath. The Weekday Volunteers also joined the annual battle against Himalayan Balsam.

c) A volunteer action day was held here as a taster session to raise awareness of our volunteering opportunities. Eleven people spent a pleasant couple of hours cutting back overhanging branches, removing invasive species and having a look at some of the projects our volunteers have worked on over the years.

11. Shewalton Sandpits

a) Sandy’s team completed their early summer maintenance of the path route as well as completing the annual giant hogweed control.

b) Both Sandy’s team and the Weekday Volunteers worked on Himalayan balsam control, focusing initially on the new meadow and mounds created last year through re-forming the sand banks.

c) A public event was held to build a bee hotel into the new linear mound that protects the meadow from balsam-seed-laden river water. The Weekday volunteers helped prepare the large amount of materials required to fill even a modest sized bee hotel. They collected bundles of reeds from the reserve’s ponds and cut lengths of wood into which they drilled different sizes of nesting holes.

d) The Weekday Volunteers checked and weeded the riverside aspen. They found them to have grown well, thanks to the work they did on mulching and replacing spiral-guards with tree tubes shortly after planting in spring 2018.

12. Shewalton Wood

a) The Weekend Volunteers cleared around 150m of derelict fencing that crosses the central bog. This not only removed a potential hazard to wildlife and walkers but also contributed to the long-term aim of rewilding the reserve. Some posts were left as bird perches.

b) The cattle returned from their winter quarters, taking up summer residence again in the central pasture, to continue the gradual removal of decades of thick grassy material that is impeding tree growth.

c) Both the funding for the river meander project and the necessary Controlled Activity Regulation (CAR) license from SEPA were approved this quarter. A site visit was held with the chosen contractor and a plan of action agree for commencement of works next quarter.

d) The Weekday Volunteers removed derelict fencing from the burn-side to ease access for the heavy plant being used to re-profile the channel.

e) The early summer path maintenance by Sandy’s team was carried out as usual. The new flail was particularly useful for the grass path beside the Dundonald Burn, easing access for the rare species surveys being undertaken in preparation for the meandering project.

f) Harry showed 16 people from Freda’s Walks round this reserve. He also had 12 people on his Dawn Chorus walk, seeing or hearing over 30 species of birds.

13. Other Public events/Engagement

a) We had a stall at the Ardrossan Castle Bio-Blitz event organised by Garnock Connections and hosted by the Ardrossan Castle Heritage Society.

b) We had a stall at Stevenston Beach Local Nature Reserve's 20th birthday celebration day.

c) Our Connecting Communities to Nature in Ayrshire project (Harry’s post) aims to work with young people in areas of high unemployment, support local community groups and foster joint working between groups. The Bourtreehill area of Irvine provides a good focus for this.

d) Thirty people attended a clean-up event we organised at Bourtreehill Park with help from the Irvine Clean Up Crew, St John Ogilvies Primary School, Community Payback and North Ayrshire Council. Thirty people braved the rain to collect 39 sacks of litter and some larger items.

e) The above event led to an Eco Day with the primary school involving a bug hunt, woodland thinning, habitat pile creation, tree tube maintenance and the building of a big bug hotel. This was followed by 30-minute litter pick with some of the children, their families and the Irvine Clean Up Crew at the park. Fifty children and family members collected 15 sacks of litter.

ECO DAY - Photos below

f) Irvine Newtown Men’s Shed made 10 bird boxes for us to put up in Bourtreehill Park.

g) Harry completed Macmillan Core Training with K:A Leisure and Macmillan Cancer Support. This training is about understanding and assisting volunteers who are in treatment or recovering from cancer.

h) We joined the North Ayrshire Green Health Partnership in April to share and promote short sessions designed to get people outdoors and active by offering some gentle practical conservation tasks. We call our sessions Time Out Thursday. They are from 10am to 12 noon and involve a light conservation task followed by a cup of tea and a short walk around the reserve. The venue is Gailes Marsh but other Irvine Greenspaces may come into play in future.

i) Harry promoted Time Out Thursday, and volunteering in general, at an event at the Fullarton Community Hub in Irvine where The Lennox Partnership was showcasing various ways people could improve their employability.

j) The Connecting Communities project requires us to provide several day’s work experience a week to one volunteer, each position lasting 6 months. The first was Christine McGovern who really threw herself into everything and even wrote a brilliant blog about her experience https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/2019/01/wild-wednesdays-in-ayrshire/ She completed her placement in April and we now have Daniel McLaughlin who is a graduate of Scotland’s Rural Collage (SRUC).

k) We were pleasantly surprised to find that shoppers in Irvine, Kilwinning and Saltcoats voted us number 1 in the Tesco 'Bags of Help' campaign. This award of £4,000 will be used to buy tools and materials for our various volunteer activities in Ayrshire.

Sand for bees at Stevenston © SWT & Golf course pond © SWT - Photos below

14. Irvine to Girvan Nectar Network (IGNN)

a) With only half of the funding secured, but a need to keep the project live while pursuing the match funds, Gill and Harry involved weekday volunteers in tasks on Nectar Network sites, particularly if the work was educational for them and/or in partnership with a community group.

b) The Weekday Volunteers visited Stevenston Dunes Local Nature Reserve and Stevenston Beach Park to remove invasive scrub and create an area of bare sand for mining bees. Christine planned and led the task as part of her training. The volunteers were shown round this large expanse of coastal habitat by Friends of Stevenston’s Iain Hamlin, who shared with them his vast knowledge of the area and its wildlife.

c) Harry and the Weekday Volunteers were filmed building a bee hotel at Kilmarnock Barassie golf course for the BBC Landward program. The task was part of a pond restoration project requested by the golf club which they intend inviting the local primary school to use. The volunteers opened up access to the pond and cleared back encroaching bushes. On one occasion, moths were trapped during the night for identification on the morning of the task.

d) The Weekday Volunteers sowed wildflower seed in some of the areas of Dundonald Links that had been cleared of gorse last quarter. Plots were chosen where annual cutting is planned stop the gorse returning.

e) One Small Blue butterfly was captured and identified on Dundonald Links on 17 May, 250m from the original release site on Gailes Marsh wildlife reserve. Unfortunately, there were no further sightings in the network area, despite regular checks under good weather conditions. The future of the project is under review but the intention is to keep it going with more support from Butterfly Conservation.

f) The garden of the Life in Loans Community Group’s meeting hall is an IGNN site. The Weekday volunteers helped prepare a small corner of it for a Men’s Shed shed as the occupants will be involved in the garden and other pollinator promoting activities.