Autumn Winds of Change in Wildlife Watch

By PETER RANSCOMBE

BUTTERFLIES and wild flowers continue to be favourite subjects among our readers as records continue to pour in from The Scotsman Wildlife Watch.

All sightings of birds, mammals and smaller beasties will be passed on to Biological Recording in Scotland (BRISC), the environmental charity.

BRISC will distribute the information among its network of local records and local records centres (LRCs): the details may be used in conservation work.

Wildlife Watch, which is supported by the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), was launched last December, with readers’ nature surveys taking place every three months thereafter.

Here is a selection of some of our readers’ sightings from the weekend – for details of how to send in your records, see the panel at the foot of the page.

I SAW a dragonfly – possibly a male emperor (Anax imperator) – at Glen Doll on Saturday.

Dr Martin Campbell

Ceres, Fife

LOTS of sparrows, starlings, two collar doves and a robin at the bird feeder in my garden at Eyemouth. I saw quite a number of butterflies on my escalonia bush. On a run from Duns to Gifford, saw a skein of geese heading north.

Ann Kennedy

Eyemouth, Berwickshire

THE following birds were seen on the Rosehearty shore over the weekend: innumerable constant skeins of pink-footed geese flying in from the sea all day, gannets, eider duck, heron, long- tailed duck, black-headed gull, pied wagtail, many oystercatchers, curlews, cormorants, house martin, hoodie crows, guillemot, blackbird and kittiwakes. Along the same rocky coast west of Rosehearty, I saw 31 species of wild flowers, including scentless chamomile, pineapple weed, thrift and rough hawkbit.

Janet McLeman

Rosehearty, Buchan

THE latest from Linlithgow: the charm of goldfinches are back – about 20 – and thankfully no sign of the dreaded finch disease. Emptying the small pool revealed seven frogs. However, the good news is that, when doing the garden, I discovered two toads.

Clark Cross

Linlithgow, West Lothian

MY HAUL from casual observations in the garden included blue tit, great tit, coal tit, greenfinch, chaffinch, wren, great spotted woodpecker, jay, mistle thrush, blackcap and robin. Red squirrel collecting nuts from hazels: variable crops on trees but certainly not heavy. Speckled wood and peacock butterflies. Buff-tailed bumble bees and carder bees. Honey bees, hover flies and wasps.

Bill Alexander

Bellanoch, Argyll

IN TENTSMUIR Forest, near St Andrews, last Sunday while on holiday, I was pleased to spot a red squirrel up a tree above where the cars park, close to Tentsmuir Beach.

Molly Hodges

Duns, Berwickshire

THESE are our findings for the weekend from riverside walks along the Tweed: two buzzards, kestrel, pied wagtail, and 40 mallards. Hazel bushes heavy with nuts. Ten red admiral butterflies in the garden. Also a common frog at Heiton, near Kelso. Squirrels: four dead ones (grey) spotted on the road over the last few weeks between Kelso and Birgham. Not normally so common – so reckon they must have bred well this year. Sighting of eight swallows dashing along at head height as the sun set on Sunday – too dark to make out clearly. They may have been martins. They looked in a hurry.

Catherine Hadshar

Birgham, Berwickshire

ON SUNDAY afternoon, I came across a tiny wee dormouse in Princes Street Gardens. He was on the footpath so I lifted him on to the grass: a perfect wee creature and a delight to see. Hopefully he will survive.

Moira Forsyth

Edinburgh

More Info

IT’S not too late to take part in the latest Scotsman Wildlife Watch. You can still send in your photographs and notes of sightings, which will be passed on to Biological Recording in Scotland (BRISC), the environmental charity.

Notes should include the name of the species you saw, the day on which you saw it, your contact details and a note of where you saw it (including a six-figure grid reference or postcode wherever possible).

You can e-mail your notes and photographs to wildlife@scotsman.com or post them to: Wildlife Watch, The Scotsman, 108 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8AS.

(c) 2007 Scotsman, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.