Hi everyone!

A lot of new things have started these last two weeks! Every Saturday from now on a Public Engagement activity will take place. Last week it was wildflower time with delicious home made dandelion tea! Today Jess and I were doing some pond dipping. It was a quiet day, but we did find some cool pond creatures, such as Water boatman and loads of very cute tadpoles!

It was a nice, yet a little chilly day, so we didn’t find as much creatures as last time when we were practicing. Last time we also found newtes! These are very rare and just since a short while found here in New Lanark and the Falls of Clyde. In the pond were also a few full grown frogs, watching over their tadpoles! Did you know tadpoles sometimes eat each other? A new fact I learned today 🙂

This week we also got to spent a morning with a moth expert, that was pretty exciting! The evening before we hung up a few moth traps. During colder temperatures the moths don’t fly away, so to get the chance to see them and identify them, we had to be there early in the morning. It was worth it though! There were a couple different species, ones that were more common than the other and we got the hang of it quite quickly. Later in the year we will do this again and then there will be other, and more, moth species!

Every week we check all the bird boxes in the transects, as you might already know. This time we saw a Blue tit sitting on the nest! It was so exciting to see it, hopefully we’ll get eggs soon! A few more boxes have had progress as well, there is now an almost complete nest in a box where we didn’t expect it. Very nice to see all these changes!

Other stuff we did is moving brash again, put out some new wildflower signs (the wildflower trail is looking good!), litter picks cause rubbish is always around the corner :P), chopping wood for a party and putting a second coat of paint on the new fences.

By the way, these last few days have been so nice! The sun was out most of the time, which always makes the day feel better. But because of the lack of rain, the water level has gotten low and the falls are quite dry. However, it’s still a beautiful place and I enjoy every day I’m here!

Cheers!

Susanne Maas – Scottish Wildlife Trust

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