Kidney Vetch planting day at Gailes Marsh. Saturday the 8th May

On Friday night (7th May) I met up with Gill Smart, the reserve manager at Gailes Marsh, to set up 2 heath traps to survey moth species on the reserve. It was quite a chilly night, but as we walked round the reserve a few brave moths were spotted dashing past. Grasshopper warblers were calling until it was pretty dark.
The next morning (Saturday 8th May) I picked up 2 keen volunteers from Glasgow and we drove down to Irvine for the wildflower planting day at Gailes Marsh. We were lucky once more with the weather. Sunshine and beautiful blue skies with clear views across to Arran! 16 volunteers arrived for the planting event, which was really great and we had a few extra supporters arrive later too!
The first task of the day was to check the moth traps that had been ran overnight. We had a number of species including Hebrew Characters, Clouded Drabs and a fantastic Red Sword-Grass (see photo below) which were new records for the site.Spot the Moth?

We then visited the scrapes of bare soil and banks that had been sown with KV seed during the March volunteer day. The surviving seedlings (that hadn't been munched by weevils) were doing well, although they were much smaller than the van-load of plants grown by Owen Figgis that he'd brought up from Castle
Douglas that morning.
After a brief introduction to the project, everyone took a tray of kidney vetch seedlings and set off to plant them in wee groups throughout the reserve.
The planting didn't take too long, and after watering in the plants we sat down for chat and lunch in the sunshine.

After lunch we met Harry, one of the regular SWT volunteers that help with the butterfly transect at Gailes Marsh. He was doing his weekly count while we were there. Butterflies seen by the volunteers included Green-Veined Whites, Orange tips, Peacocks, Small Coppers and a single Large White (that may have come up from Castle Douglas with the trays of kidney vetch). We then set off for a nature foray around the reserve which was a lot of fun. Highlights included the fantastically busy sandmartin nest site, finding a bird-of prey pellet and guessing the identity of the wee bones, frogs and hundreds of tadpoles in the loch, Drinker moth and Garden Tiger moth caterpillars, a whole range of beetles, hoverflies, bees (possibly including a very rare solitary bee), spiders and quite a few species of birds (including Wheatears, curlews, oyster catchers and willow warblers in abundance). All in all it was a fantastic day and I really enjoyed meeting lots of enthusiastic volunteers. Thanks to everyone who came along!

Kidney vetch planting day at Gailes Marsh. Saturday 8th May 2010.

A week or so ago I received a call from Owen Figgis (who has been very successful in growing kidney vetch for us) to say that the KV seedlings were almost ready to plant out at Gailes Marsh. So hastily we've organised a kidney vetch planting day for Saturday the 8th May. ALL WELCOME!

Tasks for the day will include:
1. Planting about 500 kidney vetch plants, which are the caterpillar food plant for the Small Blue.
2.Having fun outdoors and enjoying some sunshine (hopefully!)

Trowels and other tools will be provided (but if you've got your own it might come in handy). If you have work gloves bring them along and don't forget to bring a packed lunch.

We may even have access to the neaby SWT office in Irvine that has toilet facilities if needed and even tea/coffee! Hurrah!:)

Getting there: Trains from Glasgow Central leave every 30 minutes (i.e. 9.30 or 10am) and take 35 minutes to get to Irvine. We can collect you from Irvine Train station. A lift from Glasgow might also be available.
Parking is available at the reserve just off Marine Drive (beside the track next to the gate at NS323360.)

e-mail Scott Shanks (scottshanks01@msn.com) for more details or call/text 07793052501

If you would like to come along on the day (Tomorrow!), you can either come straight to the reserve for about 10.45-11ish, or give me a call and I can come get you from Irvine train station about 10.45am. :)

Mysterious muncher attacks our kidney vetch seedlings!

Project Update:
I took a trip down to Gailes Marsh on Sunday the 18th of April to see how the kidney vetch seedlings were doing a month after they were sown.
After early reports of superb germination rates I was expecting to see a green haze over the scrapes that had been sown with seed. However the number of seedlings isn't actually that dense, with some of the scrapes having very few. Did birds take the germinating seed? On closer inspection many seedlings show signs of something feeding on them, with little chunks missing from the primary leaves. Wood mice or voles perhaps? Hopefully whatever is munching on them will find something better to eat and leave the remaining seedlings to develop in peace!
I had a walk along the length of the wildlife hedge that we planted. Almost all of the hedge plants have new bursting leaves, which was great to see! 18 (mostly blackthorns) out of the 330 planted were still looking dormant, but fingers crossed they'll be fine. Tree protectors have been put on each of the crab apples to prevent rabbits doing too much damage.
The horses were taken off at the end of March, but still copious amounts of horse poo everywhere. Wildlife seen on the reserve included: At least 13 sand martins (zooming in and out of the artificial sand bank), skylarks, snipe, mute swan, moorhens, mallards, coal tits, blue tits and great tits, gold crests, goldfinches, bullfinches, chaffinches, blackbirds, carrion crows and lots of queen buff-tailed bumblebees.

Gailes Marsh update...We have germination!

Saturday the 20th March was the first Small Blue Conservation volunteering day at Gailes Marsh! To my relief when we arrived at the reserve the sun was shining and there was barely a breeze. Infact a perfect spring day for working outside! Hurrah!
6 keen volunteers made it on the day (plus Alfie the dog!).
After a quick saftey talk we split into pairs to get on with the tasks of the day.
The two main tasks were:
1/ raking the prepared soil in the 3mx35m scrapes, sowing the kidney vetch seed (10g/6m2) and then doing 'the stomp-shuffle' to make sure the seed had good contact with the soil.2/ Planting a wildlife hedge/ windbreak (198 hawthorns, 66 crab apples, 66 blackthorns) to protect the site from the wind.

Everyone had a go at each task. For the sowing task we initially planned to mix dried beach sand with the seed so that we could see where we had sown already, but this didn't work as well as expected. It was easier to mark out sections of 6m2 and sprinkle 10g of seed over this section.
Since it stayed warm and sunny we decided to have lunch on the reserve rather than heading off to the SWT office. Lots of wildlife was seen including skylarks, Stonechat, Coot, goldfinches but unfortunately no butterflies. We did find a Fox moth caterpillar and a rather funky ground beetle (Carabus nemoralis) which we think was a new find for the site.
I'd like to thank the 6 keen volunteers who did a fantastic job including Neil Gregory (SW Scotland BC branch chairman), Dr Jim Black (one of the founding members of the branch), Dr Andrew Masterman, Gill Smart (SWT reserves manager for SW Scotland), Chris Lamb and myself. Oh and not forgetting Alfie who kept us entertained!
I've since been sent a photo taken by Jim on the 27th of March showing a fantastic amouunt of germination getting underway. The success rate looks pretty high!

Other Small Blue Project news
At the weekend I spoke to Owen Figgis at the Branch 25th Anniversary celebrations and members gathering. He is growing kidney vetch seedlings for the project and says that they might be ready for planting on site within 2 months..ie end of May!
I also spoke to Dr Eric Watson, one of the founding members of the branch, who has also been growing kidney vetch seedlings. Unfortunately he reported that an overnight frost had killed most of his seedlings after he'd popped them outside. Another 4 people took packets of kidney vetch seeds to have a go. From the fantastic germination we've seen on the reserve, we may be able to move some plants from there to other parts of the reserve.

Conservation volunteering at Gailes Marsh on Saturday 20th of March!

Small Blue Project work party at Gailes Marsh
Conservation work Party at Gailes March reserve, Irvine to create habitat for the Small Blue butterfly. ALL WELCOME! Meet at the reserve at 10.45am.

Tasks for the day will include:
1. Planting a new hawthorn hedge to protect areas of the reserve from the wind. 200 m of hedging will hopefully be planted on the day!
2. Sowing wildflower seed into prepared areas in the reserve.

Spades and other tools will be provided. If you have work gloves bring them along. Wear warm clothes and sturdy boots and don't forget to bring a packed lunch.

We wll have access to the neaby SWT office in Irvine that has toilet facilities and even tea/coffee! Hurrah!:)

Getting there: Trains from Glasgow Central leave every 30 minutes (i.e. 9.30 or 10am) and take 35 minutes to get to Irvine. We can collect you from Irvine Train station. A lift from Glasgow might also be available.
Meet at the reserve at 10.45am. If driving, head towards Irvine. Look for signs for Gailes and then Western Gailes Golf Course. Parking is available at the reserve just off Marine Drive (beside the track next to the gate at NS323360.)

e-mail Scott Shanks (scottshanks01@msn.com) for more details or call/text 07793052501

Getting Gailes Marsh ready for Small Blues

On the 17th of January I met up with Gill Smart, the SWT reserve manager for South West Scotland for a planning session at the Gailes Marsh reserve.

Some of the horses grazing at Gailes
The reserve is grazed by 7 to 20 horses during the autumn and winter which is great for keeping rank grass under control and encourages wildflowers. Importantly, the horses churn up the ground creating lots of bare patches which are great for germination of new kidney vetch seedlings.

After a walk round the reserve we discussed where the digger would strip turf and some of the top soil off for sowing kidney vetch seed. The excess soil from the strips will be built into a south-facing bank which will also be sown with KV seed. The main part of the reserve that we will focus on is an open area of species-rich grassland in the south west. (shown below)
To protect the site from winds a hawthorn hedge will be planted along the south west border of the reserve. Three young hawthorn plants will go in per metre on the west side of the fence. The fence should hopeflly protect them a bit from hungry horses next Winter!

Another area in the centre of the reserve was identified where a long 70m long scrape and bank can be created that can be sown with KV seed.(see below). The final part of the reserve that will get the digger's attention will be up in the north west corner near the gate (where the horses are in the photos above).

All of the digger work was dependent upon the snowy weather we've had stopping for a while, so it was great to hear from Gill in early March that they had managed to do some of the scrapes and banks in the south west corner of the reserve..
Unfortunately due to a misunderstanding with the digger operator the orientation of the strips is 90 degrees to the original plan, so that the banks are now east-facing. They might also be a bit shorter than had been planned. We will see how we get on with these. There wasn't time to do the 70m long strip in the middle of the reserve or do any of the bits in the north west corner so these could be done in the autumn or next spring.

There will still be plenty of work to be done on the 20th of March on the work party day!

Kidney Vetch update

I've recently heard from two Glasgow & SW Scotland branch members, Owen Figgis in Castle Douglas and Dr Eric Watson in Dundonald, who have both been busy growing Kidney Vetch for the Small Blue project.

Packets of kidney vetch seeds of Scottish provenance were obtained from Scotia seeds ,and sent to everyone who had offered to help raise plants.Vetch seeds can reportedly be quite tricky to germinate and often need to be scarified (rubbed with sandpaper) or soaked to stimulate germination. However we seem to have had a bit of luck with this batch of seeds!

Eric wrote to say how surprised he was at the speed of germination. Just 48 hours after sowing he reported that the seedlings were 0.5 to 1 cm in length and growing well.
Owen was equally pleased by the the speed and success of germination. He had tried scarifying one half of the seeds and soaking the other half overnight. 2 days later both had germinated with the soaked seeds slightly further ahead. Both sets of seeds had a very high rate of germination! After spending the weekend pricking out seedlings, Owen reported over 500 healthy young plants growing in his poly tunnel. We should have loads for planting later in the year!

Hopefully this bodes well for the seeds we will sow directly into the prepared ground at Gailes Marsh. Fingers crossed that they are as viable and rapid to germinate!

Gill Smart the reserve manager for SWT's Ayrshire reserves managed to collect some kidney vetch seed from Gailes Marsh during 2009 and so hopefully we'll have some local kidney vetch plants to return to the site.

If you would like to help by growing kidney vetch plants for the Small Blue project please get in touch and I'll send you some seeds. Kidney vetch flowers are nectar rich and great for bees and other insects too, so consider growing some for your garden, rockery or even window box too!

Small Blue on Kidney Vetch

Small Blue (Cupido minimus) reintroduction to South West Scotland

Pair of Small Blues mating on Kidney Vetch

The Small Blue is the UK’s smallest butterfly (wingspan 16-27 mm). Colonies of this charming little butterfly can be found from the north of Scotland down to the south of England, but became extinct in south west Scotland in the early 1980s. In 2007 it was added to the UK Biological Action Plan (BAP) species list after suffering a significant decline in distribution.

The butterfly’s small size and weak flight mean that the adults are quite sedentary, with few individuals moving further than 50 m from the colony during their short lives. Both sexes are similar with dark slate blue upper wings and silvery blue undersides with a few dark spots. Males often have a dusting of blue scales on the upper-wings, while the females tend to be slightly browner than the males. In Scotland, adults can be on the wing from late May/early June through to July, depending on weather conditions. A small second brood may be seen in August/September in exceptional years.

The female lays a single egg on the flower heads of kidney vetch, the caterpillar food plant. Only one egg tends to be laid per plant as the young caterpillars can be cannibalistic. When not being anti-social the caterpillar feeds on developing seeds in the flower head, undergoing 3 moults before hibernating under moss or in a crevice in the soil. The following spring the caterpillar pupates without further feeding. Adults seem to prefer nectaring on the yellow flowers of kidney vetch or birds-foot trefoil, although other plants may be used.

Kidney Vetch flower colour forms


Colonies of this butterfly tend to be small and are prone to local extinctions due to their dependence on the levels of kidney vetch flowering in the colony area. Habitat fragmentation and loss due to building developments, changes in grazing and scrub encroachment, can all quickly make sites unsuitable for this habitat specialist species. Most colonies are found at coastal locations where erosion exposes bare ground where new kidney vetch seedlings can germinate and the adults can bask in the sun. Colonies may also be found at old industrial brown field sites or quarries; again with lots of bare ground and low fertility where the kidney vetch does not get out-competed by grasses. Low levels of grazing by rabbits can help maintain small blue colonies; however they do tend to eat the flower heads, as do sheep. Autumn /winter grazing and ground disturbance by cattle or horses is ideal at managed sites.

Map of Gailes Marsh


The Glasgow & South West Scotland Branch of Butterfly Conservation together with the Scottish Wildlife Trust would like to reintroduce this charming little butterfly to south west Scotland. Gailes Marsh is an SWT nature reserve situated just south of Irvine on the Ayrshire coast, and just 1km from the site of Ayrshire’s last small blue record.

The reserve currently boasts a range of butterfly and moth species including common blues, small coppers and dark green fritillaries. An area with a high density of kidney vetch exists in the south west of the reserve. We plan to expand this area and also transform the north- west section of the reserve into good small blue habitat. Coastal dunes west of the reserve contain suitable small blue habitat with good amounts of kidney vetch.

It is hoped that we will eventually see natural colonisation of this area by butterflies from the reserve.

The timing of the actual reintroduction will depend on how long it takes to create good quality habitat and maintain the levels of kidney vetch flowering on the reserve, which must be sufficiently high to support a healthy butterfly population. Kidney vetch is a short lived perennial which can take between 2-5 years to flower depending on conditions. We are currently in discussion with other branches of Butterfly Conservation about the source of initial small blue stock for the project.

Habitat creation at Gailes Marsh is due to commence in early 2010. The fertile top soil will be removed to create strips of bare sandy subsoil and south-facing soil banks that will be sown with kidney vetch seed. The areas sown with kidney vetch will be sheltered from the wind by planting native hedging along the western edge of the reserve. The first conservation work day at Gailes Marsh will take place on Saturday the 20th of March. Please get intouch if you'd like to come along and help.

Small Blue Buttefly on Kidney Vetch

Anyone who would like to help with this project would be very welcome indeed. We are currently looking for volunteers to help create a sheltering hedge (~400 hawthorn plants) and sow kidney vetch. If you are able to find space in your back garden, window sill or green house to grow kidney vetch plants for the project, we can provide you with seed.

In the next few years we will also need volunteers to help monitor kidney vetch germination and flowering at Gailes Marsh and areas outside the reserve. After the small blues are introduced to the reserve we will need volunteers to help with timed counts of adult butterflies during their short flight season. This is necessary to monitor how well the project is going. Training in using a GPS device to accurately monitor kidney vetch patches or butterflies can be provided to any interested volunteers. This is a fantastic opportunity to get involved with real conservation work for a native Scottish species.

Scott Shanks (scottshanks01@msn.com)