on park wildlife Spotlight


Eilidh & Joe’s wildlife witter


Small tortoiseshell butterflly.


AS ThE CouNTRy pARk’S countryside rangers we are lucky to be out and about most days and as a result see some spectacular wildlife. This summer was no exception. Our highlight was seeing two kingfishers sitting together at the Darnley Mill pond in June. The view you normally get tends to be limited to an electric blue streak as this beautiful bird flashes by. During June we also saw a


CRIMP!


kestrel. These falcons used to be our most common bird of prey but we rarely see them in the country park now so this sighting was worth noting. later in August, whilst working at Balgray Reservoir, we heard the unmistakable sound of a curlew which then flew overhead.


It has been a great summer for butterflies. During our annual count in mid July we saw the beautiful


CRIMP! NO, JOE ISN’T going for a new hairdo; but we were recently contacted by the Clyde River Foundation to take part in the Clyde Riverfly Monitoring partnership (CRIMp). This is a citizen science project which is providing training in riverfly monitoring to volunteers across the eight counties in the River Clyde catchment. Riverfly monitoring can help protect the quality of our rivers, increase our knowledge and understanding of invertebrate populations and promote the conservation of their habitats. Trained volunteers will do monthly health checks and send their results to the Clyde River Foundation. kick samples will be taken at a number of sites and selected species counted


common blue butterfly and the equally stunning day-flying six-spotted burnet moth. A couple of weeks later whilst walking along the Balgray Reservoir path, next to the Balgraystone Road car park, we came across a swarm of hundreds of small tortoiseshell butterflies, probably only just emerged from their chrysalises. There were also hundreds of whites (small, large and green-veined)


and recorded. This means any changes can be detected early, helping to inform the management of the fishery or freshwater ecosystem. Additionally if pollution is detected there is a rapid line of communication to the Scottish Environment protection Agency (SEpA). The country park countryside ranger service recently undertook training as part of the project and last month took its first samples along the Brock and Aurs burns. The results were slightly disappointing with low numbers of the key species being recorded. This may have been due to the timing of larvae hatching, low water levels during the previous weeks or fluctuation in water level and temperature caused by


in the same area. Finally the exceptionally


dry weather allowed us to get our waders on and walk parts of the Brock Burn that are normally too deep to reach. This meant we could carry out a survey for water voles, and although we did not see any, we came across several of their feeding ‘gardens’ and some droppings, so it was worth getting wet.


upstream reservoir outflow. But the great thing about this project is that it is ongoing, so we will be able to see next month if numbers increase, or if further investigation is needed into why they are low.


REPORT ANY PROBLEMS


Report any antisocial crimes in progress to the police on 101


Other antisocial problems such as fly-tipping or graffiti should be reported to the countryside ranger service on


0141 577 4053/54


Outwith office hours call ‘Clean glasgow’ on 0800 027 7027 or East Renfrewshire ‘Ring and Report’ on 0800 013 0076


Joe taking kick samples.


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