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