The chairman welcomed everyone especially those who had come from a distance. He asked that our best wishes be conveyed to Sally and Jackie who were both in hospital. He introduced our first speaker, Mark Pollitt, manager of Dumfries and Galloway Environmental Resources Centre (DGERC) in Dumfries www.dgerc.org.uk This department manages all wildlife recordings in D&G. Mark’s illustrated talk told us of the necessity of recording all wildlife in the area no matter how ordinary it is. We saw maps showing where for example red squirrels had been reported. (none in South Rhinns.) Next we learned how to record our sightings.
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WHAT. Common or scientific name. If in doubt, don’t guess. Send a picture and DGERC will identify your object.
WHERE. A precise location. Mark gave us an easy to follow guide to using an ordnance survey map for grid references. (Alex will do a recap at next meeting so that we all know our own patch.)
WHEN. Date. If it was seen in the past give an approximate month or even just year.
WHO. Your name.
You can even record your sightings online here.
Target species are Newts, Dragonflies, Glow-worms (Yes, really! D&G is the best place in Scotland to see them.), Crickets, Whales, etc, and a small pointed land snail. Details of the latter are on a sheet and I have spare copies.
A new group has been set up – the Amphibian and Reptile Group. We saw pictures of frogs and toads and learned their differences. The group especially want recordings of newts. If you can catch one please put it in a jar and photograph its underside before release. Mark offered to come back to us and talk about amphibians as it provoked a lot of interest. Paul and Lorna will have us to their house as their garden is full of newts in the breeding season. There will be a pond walk at Sandhead. Details later. The Chairman thanked Mark for his very interesting talk. See local reptiles here.
Gaby Reynolds, head gardener at Dunskey Gardens near Portpatrick surprised us by telling us there were 700 different varieties of snowdrop. There are 40 at Dunskey and she had brought along several samples of them, leading us through how to spot the differences – arrangement of leaves, doubles, scented, etc. - even yellow ones. She then examined the samples brought by the members and though all proved to be fairly common we could see how they varied. All questions were fielded by Gaby with great humour.
You can visit the Dunskey Gardens website here.
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© Kirkmaiden Natural History Group 2011
Mark Pollitt
