Great minds think alike

Scotland’s Community Groups do so much for our pollinators.  In mid-June we will host a conference to celebrate their many pollinator-friendly actions, but for now let’s take a closer look at two fantastic community actions. Whether you visit Starbank Park in the capital city, or chat with Broughty Ferry’s Margaret Alston your appreciation of all things pollinator is bound to grow.

You probably think Jam, Jute and Journalism when it comes to considering the great successes of Dundee. But three ladies in Broughty Ferry have been working hard to add a new category to celebrate – bumblebees!  A few weekends ago Mag and Lil, whom many of you will know if you follow their twitter feed, and seek out Dundee-based bumble bee news, were pushing their pollinator friendly advice at Dundee University Botanic Gardens.

Mag (better known to some as Margaret Alston) is an energetic retired Primary School teacher, and teaching is the chosen profession of her daughter Holly too. Mag’s grand-daughter Lil is the youngest member of the dynamic trio. However, regardless of which generation you speak to, the love of pollinators, and especially bumblebees, shines through.

In what their first face-to-face event since lockdown, the emphasis at Dundee’s Botanic Gardens was on bumblebee fun and garden activities for all the family. Their Children’s Activity Stall was ‘buzzing’ with energy and we were delighted to provide them with our range of Children’s Activity sheets for the day – featuring bumblebees, solitary bees and honey bees.

Mag and Lil welcome children and their adults of all ages to their activity sessions, and promote a simple message … bumblebees (and other bees) need our help!

The focus their events is on the basic needs of all living creatures, explains Margaret “We focus on flowers as they are the bumblebee’s source of food, water and shelter. It’s so important to emphasise the need of safe places to make nests and hibernate. There is also an acknowledgement that we in turn benefit when bumblebees pollinate our food crops and other flowers….they make our world a better place to be(e).”

Their fun filled activities reflect this message, and their hope is that children and adults leave the stall having learnt something about bees and with a renewed determination to help them. Those activities are many and varied and include making miniature gardens where bumblebees might like to live, a quiz (everyone loves a quiz!), a game called hook a bumble. And there are prizes.

Don’t worry if you didn’t make it along in May, come June 11^th you have another chance to be enthused by this marvellous trio as they will be bringing their brand of bumblebee magic to an event in Broughty Ferry. Watch their twitter feed for further information.

Margaret’s philosophy is grounded in solid common sense and years of experience as a teacher. “When dealing with very small children,” she explains, “a story or a bit of drama compounds learning in a very effective and unforgettable way. At our event in the Broughty Ferry library I shall be doing a little bit of play acting encouraging children to join in, with a giant flower and a little bumblebee! Holly or Lily will be reading ‘I Saw a Bee’ by Rob Ramsden (it gives a brilliant message about bees to tiny children) and there are some lovely worksheets and teachers pack to go with the book.”

Head south across the Firths of Tay and Forth and you might, if you are lucky, find yourself at Starbank Park. Here Janet McArthur, Chair of the Friends of Starbank Park, inspires a willing army of volunteers to do their bit for pollinators.

In a well thought through pollinator-friendly approach everything from diverse floral planting schemes, to the inclusion of flowering trees and bee hotels is catered for.

The enthusiastic Friends of Starbank Park has this year focusing on native plants and – given the circumstances in Ukraine since February – sunflowers.   Indeed the group has been packaging up hundreds of sunflower seeds as part of a local fund-raising effort which have been sold in shops and cafes in their local community raising to date just under £500. There is an affinity for sunflowers at Starbank, last year saw volunteers, including local nursery schools, plant hundreds of sunflower seeds.

A visit from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge coincided with an event to scatter pollinator friendly seeds in the park last year. That royal connection helped the Starbank Group’s pollinator planting area enjoy being published in the media throughout the UK, highlighting the need for more pollinator friendly patches.

Serious thought is given to what is planted.  The group leaves plants such as loosestrife in the hedge to help orange tip caterpillars feed, and packs their flower beds with cosmos, nasturtiums, foxgloves, scabious, oxeye daisy, and lupins giving an aesthetically beautiful garden centrepiece that is a feast for pollinators.  

Forward thinking is often the key to success, and the group ably demonstrated this in collecting the seeds of their many pollinator friendly flowers in order to plan sowing the following season’s flowers. 

Add to the mix the fact that Starbank Park run workshops to promote bees and butterflies in their local community and planted hundreds of crocus bulbs last autumn to feed the bumblebees early spring it is clear that planning is a key strength of Janet and her team’s outlook.

So be it Broughty Ferry or Starbank Park you can be sure to that pollinators are being considered, and then some.

Join the NatureScot Community Groups conference:

Last year NatureScot hosted an online conference looking at the relationship between pollinators’ needs and Local Authorities greenspace actions.  This year the conference — on the morning of June 21 — will focus on Community Groups. The aim is to celebrate pollinator-friendly approaches, share good practice and offer advice on how to get your community involved. Speakers will include Athayde Tonhasca, Scott Shanks, Paul Castle, Catherine Lawson, Leigh Biagi and Francesca Martelli.  To attend please contact jim.jeffrey@nature.scot

Follow the Mag and Lil twitter feed

A feathery pollinator

By Athayde Tonhasca

As gardeners across the country gradually come out of hibernation to resume tending their flower pots and vegetable beds, they can count on one visitor for company: the Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). This little bird is a common sight all year round in gardens across the UK, and it is definitely good company because it spends a good chunk of its time hunting leaf-munching caterpillars – although flies, aphids, beetles, wasps and spiders would also do for lunch. Outside the breeding season, they also eat seeds and buds.

The Eurasian blue tit © Francis Franklin, Wikipedia Creative Commons

This everyday bird and the related great tit (Parus major) came into the spotlight in 1921 when they were found to be behind cases of pilfering from British residences. These birds had learnt to prise open or pierce the foil tops of milk bottles left at people’s doorsteps to get at the layer of cream underneath. And they became really good at it: “The bottles are usually attacked within a few minutes of being left at the door. There are even several reports of parties of tits following the milkman’s cart down the street and removing the tops from bottles in the cart whilst the milkman is delivering milk to the houses.” (Fisher & Hinde 1949, The opening of milk bottles by birds. British Birds 42: 347-357). The technique spread quickly, and by 1947 several places across the UK were recording bottle-opening tits. The birds’ cleverness became a case study in social learning.

Tits having their breakfast © Fisher & Hinde, 1949. British Birds 42: 347-357

The blue tit is also known for its acrobatics: when searching for food, it can cling to walls, hold on to the narrowest twig and hang upside down to explore holes and crevices. The talent for gymnastics offered the blue tit a new opportunity – a boost of energy from flowers of the crown imperial fritillary (Fritillaria imperialis).

This plant from the lily family (Liliaceae) is native to Asia and valued by European and American gardeners for its clusters of bell-shaped flowers. In the UK, these flowers are visited by bumble bees, which are attracted by abundant nectar. Birds may be enticed as well, although most of them have to cut through the top of the flowers to get to the nectar. But not the blue tit: it has the right size and skill to access the flower through its opening, without damaging it.

Crown imperial fritillary or Kaiser’s crown © James Steakley, Wikipedia Creative Commons

Nectar feeding is rare among European birds: in fact, not one species is considered to be a specialised nectarivore. But the blue tit is known for dabbling in nectar now and then from plants like gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa) and willows (Salix spp.). Different from most passerine birds, blue tits seem to be able to digest sucrose, a quirk that is likely to give them an advantage over great tits, their garden competitors. 

To the crown imperial fritillary, visits by inquisitive blue tits are most welcome. While probing a flower for nectar, the bird touches anthers and stigma, and when it hops to another flower, inevitably pollen is transferred. So, as a first for a plant growing in Europe, the crown imperial fritillary is mainly – or perhaps solely – pollinated by a bird. 

Blue tits visiting crown imperial flowers © Búrquez, 1989. Oikos 55: 335-340

In Europe, 46 or so bird species visit flowers, and it is usually assumed they are looking for insects or other invertebrates. But most of these birds are generalists, feeding on whatever comes to hand. So it’s possible that some of them occasionally go for a sip of nectar, just like the blue tit. And just like the blue tit, a few birds may contribute to pollination. Of the nearly 100 European plants visited by birds, about a third are introduced species like the crown imperial fritillary. If some of them are pollinated by native birds that take advantage of a novel food source, the ecological implications may be profound. We won’t know until the matter is investigated. Who knows, perhaps some bird besides the blue tit will join insects on the list of British pollinators.

Forvie feast

To visit Forvie National Nature Reserve at this time of year is to enjoy a flowery treat.  And, of course, where there are flowers it follows that you are likely to see a range of pollinators too.  That’s certainly the case at Forvie and the insects are quick to recognise a feast when they see one.

The reserve came into being in January 1959, covers almost 1,000 hectares of sand dunes, heathland and the Ythan estuary. It is an area that has long been a research spot for Aberdeen University and the food webs present here are amongst the most studied in the world. Home to a rich variety of wildlife, seals and birds are the biggest magnet alongside the vast sand dunes which evoke images of far flung deserts. Breaking waves, gusting winds, terns and eiders can deliver an ever-changing acoustic backdrop

The Sand Loch and Dune Trails are understandably popular, but if its pollinators you seek then the two-mile Heath Trail is probably your best bet. It’s an easy path with a gravel surface and occasional grassy sections – although it is worth noting that this is the great outdoors so uneven surfaces and one or two muddy patches are possible.

Catriona Reid is the energetic reserve manager at this rolling site, a dozen miles or so north of Aberdeen, where over 350 species of plant have been recorded.  

“At the moment we have bursts of red campion and the coastal delight of thrift,” she recently told me. “My favourite quirky fact about thrift is that it featured on the reverse of old thruppenny bits. We’ve also got creeping willow catkins at Hackley Bay (and they are lying all over the moor here just now), cuckoo flower, common vetch, meadow saxifrage, violet and the rather unappealingly named lousewort.  The cliffs are currently covered in primulas – great swathes of primroses and false oxlips.

“That’s not a bad range.  On my regular walks round the reserve I enjoy seeing many insects and just now a favourite are the small tortoiseshells, tussling in the sunshine. I’m always hoping to see something new, too, I keep looking for orange-tip butterflies on the cuckoo flower – but I’ve never yet seen one here at Forvie.” 

A good place to find out about the host of wild flowers on the reserve is in the Forvie blog . It’s worth checking out for regular and appealing pictures of flowers which are arguably at their best in May and June.  

A look at the NBN gateway reveals that red-tailed bumblebees are often seen here (and I can vouch for that). The red-tailed is one of our ‘it does what it says on the tin’ bumblebees, probably our easiest to identify with the red tail being the only non-black area on the females. One of the so-called ‘big seven’, it has been identified in each and every county of Scotland.

Amongst the other Forvie bumblebees common carders are regularly reported. The common carder is interesting for its appearance too. Known in some quarters as ‘the dusty miller’ or ‘baker bee’, its colouration is a nod to the flour-spattered, dusty looking, brown coats which bakers used to wear. Unlike most bumblebees it doesn’t boast a bold stripey appearance which is a warning to many would-be predators, but the common carder seems to manage just fine without the vivid black and yellow colouration. 

When it comes to butterflies, however, the most oft recorded species at Forvie, by some distance, is the small tortoiseshell, probably because they are colourful and very obvious. Nevertheless, the Forvie butterfly stars are surely the striking fritillaries – small pearl-bordered and dark green – which are well worth patiently seeking out. And some years produce impressive mass influxes of painted ladies, migrating, over several generations, from North Africa.

The reserve has a relaxing semi-permanent wildflower zone near to the equally welcoming visitor centre. In the centre you will find a series of displays, a film presentation and tactile exhibits about Forvie. Some of the information reflects the fact that the area has associations with fishing and this is subtly reflected on the Heath Trail where the interpretation panels sit on upturned recycled wooden ‘fish crates’.

Forvie can be a challenging environment for bumblebees and other eager pollinators. Catriona says “Sometimes strong wind grounds the bumblers – we kept finding them on the path the other day – but when we very gently nudged them, it was clear they were ok, they just didn’t want to fly. I can’t say I blame them!”.  Then again they might simply be taking a break from feasting.

Further reading:

Pollinators at Forve blog 2021

A bitter-sweet medication

By Athayde Tonhasca

Most flowering plants need to keep pollinators happy. If not, the flow of pollen from flower to flower is interrupted or reduced, which will impair or prevent plant fertilization. To avoid such a disaster, many plants entice flower visitors with an irresistible reward: nectar. This solution contains 15% to 75% (by weight) of sugars – mostly glucose, fructose and sucrose – free amino acids, proteins, minerals and lipids. Bees, wasps, hover flies, mosquitoes, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds and bats are among the most enthusiastic consumers of this energy-packed drink. Not all nectar-eaters are pollinators, but nectar pilfering is a price plants have to pay to get pollinated.

A hummingbird hawk moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) taking a sip of nectar © Charles J. Sharp, Wikipedia Creative Commons

But nectar is more than nutrients dissolved in water. It contains a variety of secondary metabolites (compounds that are not directly involved in an organism’s development) such as tannins, phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids and terpenoids. The role of these chemicals are not completely understood. Some of them are indigestible, unpleasant (too bitter) or toxic to animals, so they defend plants against plant eaters, pollinators included: bees and other insects can be poisoned by secondary metabolites in nectar and pollen. But some nectar-diluted chemicals have positive effects: caffeine enhances pollinators’ memory, while other substances act as addictive stimulants, attracting insects or inducing them to stay around for longer, thus increasing the chances of pollination. 

These metabolites play another part in plant’s lives, one which importance is being increasingly recognized: as antimicrobial agents. The evening trumpet flower or yellow jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) provides a nice example of nectar’s medicinal qualities.

This garden plant, native to warmer parts of the Americas, is loaded with the alkaloid gelsemine. This strychnine-related chemical makes the whole plant toxic to humans, livestock and to honey bees. Bumble bees however not only are immune to it, but they also get some protection against Crithidia bombi, a widespread gut parasite that reduces the development and survival of colonies. Gelsemine-laced nectar may lower the rate of C. bombi infection by 65%.

The evening trumpet flower © Kenpei, Wikipedia Creative Commons

Gelsemine is not the only natural prophylactic against C. bombi. Callunene, found in the nectar of common heather (Calluna vulgaris), reduces the parasite’s infectivity against the buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris), and in this case we know how. Crithidia bombi is a flagellated protozoan, that is, a single cell organism with a whip-like appendage called a flagellum. Callunene induces the loss of the flagellum, which the parasite uses to attach itself to the bumble bee gut.   

Crithidia bombi © R. Schmid-Hempel, ETH Zurich

Heather, together with white clover (Trifolium repens), marsh thistle (Cirsium palustre), and bell heather (Erica cinerea), are responsible for about 50% of all the nectar produced by flowering plants in the United Kingdom. We can only imagine the protective effect of heather on bumble bee populations. As virtually all plans secrete some secondary metabolites with their nectar, certainly there is much more to be discovered about their medicinal properties and consequences for pollination services.

A field of common heather, bumble bees’ pharmacy © Rasbak, Wikipedia Creative Commons

A greater understanding of nectar pharmacology may benefit us directly. Various alkaloid, terpenoid and phenolic compounds are lethal to other protozoans related to C. bombi (family Trypanosomatidae). Some of these trypanosomatids are responsible for awful diseases, like Trypanosoma brucei, which causes human sleeping sickness, and T. cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease. So, who knows: a healthy bumble bee may be a clue for reducing human suffering.

Of Cows and Kings

Cowslip and marsh marigold are perhaps at opposite ends of the scale. The delicate, rather petite, downward facing flowers of the cowslip contrast strikingly with the bold upturned sunny faces of the marsh marigold. Both, however, are an excellent spring food source for pollinators and as they are relatively early flowering they are extremely welcome signs that spring is gathering momentum.

The cowslip is undoubtedly one of Britain’s most popular flowers. With its bright egg-yolk colouring it is easy to spot and the staple of many a meadow. However, it is not confined solely to meadows. On a recent trip to Ben Vrackie I came across hordes of these dainty flowers bravely hugging a sheltered rocky cliff face.

The crinkled green leaves lie close to the ground whilst the yellow flower (which has a bright orange element deep in the flower-head) sits on a stalk a few inches higher nodding downwards rather like the bluebell. The flowers are present in clusters. It is perhaps not a surprise to learn that this plant belongs to the primrose family. 

It is generally acknowledged that the cowslip is far less common than in times gone by. The loss of meadows and hedgerows, both favoured spots, are said to have played a large part in this. In Dave Goulson’s highly readable ‘A Buzz in the Meadow’ he talks enthusiastically about the joy to be had in seeing “cowslips bursting from the hedge banks”. Dipping into Shakespeare and Burns will reveal references to the cowslip. In one Burns song about spring the line ‘In vain to me the cowslips blaw’ appears. And of course Cowslip was the name given to one of the characters in Watership Down.

And the name’s roots?  Well, it isn’t pretty.  Cowslip is reckoned to be derived from ‘cow slop’, which was a nod to the fact that our ancestors believed the flowers to grow directly from the scene of a cow pat.

Cowslip, dandelion, bird’s foot trefoil, lesser celandines, primrose … the list of popular yellow flowers for pollinators is seemingly endless. Marsh marigold is another yellow ‘pot of gold’ for pollinators

Not related to cowslip, it is nevertheless in some quarters referred to as American Cowslip.

Marsh marigold is in fact a member of the buttercup family and it is easy to see why, in many respects it is a larger, grander relative of that dainty flower. This size difference explains why it is in some places known as the ‘King Cup’ in deference to its size and grandeur. A less flattering popular name is ‘water blobs’.

On the Isle of Man the flowering of marsh marigold was greeted as an obvious sign that spring had well and truly arrived. Locals would place the flowers on their doorsteps as a good luck charm.  It’s a plant which has enjoyed a rich history in folklore. The marigold element of its name is said by some to derive from ‘Mary’s gold’ and this hints at the religious connotation which apparently saw it used long ago as an element of Easter celebrations in honour of the Virgin Mary.

It’s a plant that thrives near water and has but a short moment in the sun. The shiny emerald green leaves, which have a lovely heart or kidney shape to them, are soon to be swamped by fast growing spring vegetation, but for a while they dominate their patch. On the banks of the River Tay near my home they are found not only along the banks of the main river but on the fringes of some of the feeder burns too.

There is nothing secretive about marsh marigold, or indeed cowslip. Their golden hue makes them easy to spot, but they are non the poorer for their obviousness. And for pollinators they are a welcome banquet in the stop-start of a Scottish spring.

Don’t come fly with me, let’s not fly, let’s not fly away

By Athayde Tonhasca

Insects made their first appearance on this planet between 450 and 500 million years ago. But they really took off evolutionarily – and literally – some 80 million years later when they acquired the ability to fly. From then on, insects could explore a three-dimensional world to occupy every nook and cranny of a habitat, escape predators, disperse widely and search for food more efficiently. Insects soon became the dominant creatures on Earth. 

A Meganeura monyi fossil, one of the largest recorded flying insects (65-70 cm wingspan) from ~300 million years ago © Didier Descouens, Muséum de Toulouse. Wikipedia Creative Commons

The ability to fly gave insects so many advantages and opportunities that it may seem inconceivable to give it up. And yet, many species have done just that. Brachyptery (wing reduction) or aptery (loss of wings) is widespread among insects. It is easy to understand the uselessness or even disadvantage of wings for bedbugs, fleas, lice and other sedentary creatures. But winglessness seems odd for insects we commonly see flying about such as wasps, beetles, and butterflies.

For these insects, wing reduction or wing loss almost always happens to females: males usually retain fully functional wings. The large velvet ant (Mutilla europaea), is a case in point; the male is winged and a capable flier, while the female is apterous, a trait that makes her look like an ant – hence the species’ common name. But in fact this creature is a wasp that parasitizes several species of bumble bees.

A female velvet ant © Tiia Monto, Wikipedia Creative Commons

The reasons for the loss of flight in insects have baffled scientists for a long time, and Charles Darwin was one of the first to come up with a theory to explain it. Intrigued by the unusual number of apterous beetles on the island of Madeira, Darwin suggested that flightlessness was a survival strategy. To avoid being blown into the ocean by the strong winds that buffet the island year round, the local insect fauna adapted by losing their wings and keeping their feet firmly on the ground. 

Darwin’s theory was tested recently with data gathered from 28 Southern Ocean Islands, a collection of isolated, wind-swept specks of land in the southern regions of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. About half of the islands’ indigenous species are unable to fly, which is nearly ten times the global incidence of flightlessness among insects.

Number of flightless (orange) and flying (blue) insect species in the Southern Ocean Islands © Leihy & Chown, 2020. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: 2872020212

By analyzing variables such as wind speed, temperature, air pressure, habitat fragmentation, and presence of predators or competitors, researchers validated Darwin’s hypothesis: wind speed was the main environmental contributor to flightlessness in insects. But Darwin didn’t get it quite right: the risk of being blown away is not the main evolutionary driver – after all, even a tiny island is a huge mass of land for an insect. Instead, the enormous energetic cost of flying seems to be the cause.

Indeed, brachypterous or apterous insects are more common in areas where a great amount of energy is required for flight such as arctic regions, mountains and deserts; or in stable habitats where dispersal is not vital for survival, such as caves, termite and ant nests, and on vertebrate hosts. Flight muscles comprise 10-20% of an insect’s body weight, and sustained flights consume a great deal of the insect’s resources. If flying does not give it significant advantages, energy could be spent on some other function – such as laying more eggs, for example.

Egg production explains why it’s mostly females that are wingless. Free of the costs of flying, a female can produce lots of eggs, which are considerably more expensive energetically than sperm. In fact, for many flightless species the female’s abdomen is greatly enlarged to hold as many eggs as possible, which increases the species’ chances of survival. Flight is retained in males probably because it increases their chances of finding females.

In Britain, the belted beauty (Lycia zonaria), the winter moth (Operphthera brumata) and the vapourer moth (Orgyia antiqua) are three of the better known species with wingless females. The belted beauty is a scarce species confined to coastal areas, but the other two are abundant and widespread; the winter moth is an invasive in North America. 

A male and a female belted beauty © Harald Süpfle, Wikipedia Creative Commons

Wings were the morphological feature that assured insects’ success on Earth, but many species made a U-turn in the evolutionary road. For them, flightlessness was the best life strategy. This apparent throwback is another demonstration that evolution is not teleological, that is, it has no objectives or ‘improvement goals’. It just provides the best means for a species to adapt and survive.

Windswept and interesting

Speak to any National Nature Reserve manager in Scotland and one thing is for sure – they will all tell you that their reserve is, whisper it, actually the best in the country.  Now, I’ve no inclination to take sides, and each and every reserve I’ve visited has been fantastic, but I have to concede that there is something about the tremendous variety at St Cyrus NNR that grabs your attention.

Sure it can be a site of blustery winter storms, and the salty winds promise untold harm to your complexion, but when you have long expanses of beach, rolling sand-dunes and a backdrop of towering inland cliffs you know that you are somewhere special, somewhere to be savoured.

Diversity is the name of the game here. Birds, plants, sea life, scents, sights and sounds jockey for position.  If pollinators are on your wish list then a visit in summer is recommended. The place is simply awash with wildflowers and performs sterling service as a haven for insects. 

Reserve manager Therese Alampo won’t disagree. In fact she will regale you with tales of birds, butterflies, moths, sand dunes, seals and flowers until the sun dips behind you. Selling the virtues of the many paths that criss-cross the reserve comes naturally, as does the insistence that one trip is never enough.  She ought really to be selling tickets … the commission would be incredible.

The pollinator trail is well worth sampling. There are currently eight stopping points on a trail that piggy-backs on existing floral trails.  Subjects covered include the tawny mining bee, unkempt corners, the much maligned ragwort, hoverflies, leaf-cutter bees, and valuing our wasps.

There’s a buzz and a hum at St Cyrus. Pollinators feast on the nectar and pollen banquet.  And the fun starts right at the car park, for within yards of leaving you are likely to come across mining bees making good use of the exposed soil around a fence line. Then it is onto a boardwalk that lifts you over what some might call a scruffy area, but others celebrate as a natural oasis.

Before Covid struck the reserve offered a children’s quiz that added a fun sense of purpose to many school outings around the reserve. As Therese explains the information on offer at the reserve is eagerly soaked up, be it in the shape of quizzes or information panels. “Every day we see people stopping to read the information on the short trail” notes Therese, “sometimes simply capturing an audience that may just be on the way to the beach.  I love people’s reactions to the trail and the fascination, particularly to the wasp panel, ‘Really, wasps are useful? I never knew that!’ It’s lovely to provoke that sense of interest.”

Therese isn’t the only enthusiast for the reserve. Noted local photographer, Pauline Smith, has wowed people for several years now with her stunning macro shots of the insect and flower life on the reserve.  Our blog, and indeed the pollinator information panels at St Cyrus, have been lucky to tap into her amazing skills.

Photographer in residence at St Cyrus National Nature Reserve, Pauline not only takes awesome wildlife photos, but enjoys a deep understanding of the reserve’s nature. When not getting up close to insect life she is a scientific copy-editor and that eye for detail serves her extremely well as a photographer.

Wasps, butterflies, solitary bees, caterpillars and bumblebees have all fallen under Pauline’s near forensic gaze. The images she captures show not just the beauty of nature, but the complexity and detail in the structure of so many of our invertebrates. From camouflage to intricate mouth parts, she is capable of shining a light on the minutest detail. That takes well-honed field craft and a connection with nature. 

Pauline has been enjoying the reserve daily since 2017. She first came to St Cyrus NNR to walk her dog, but was immediately hooked by the huge variety of wildlife supported by the reserve. She hones in on the macro world because she is fascinated by those small details, such as the intricacies of a caterpillar’s foot or the impressive moustache of a male mining bee, that can be revealed by a macro lens. 

Her favourite pollinators are solitary bees, with leafcutters and the gold-tailed melitta being particular favourites. Pauline finds the most challenging thing about macro photography to be getting her subjects to stay still long enough to obtain both aesthetically pleasing bug’s-eye-view photographs and photographs showing enough distinguishing features to allow the species to be identified, which is no mean feat (even with detailed photographs) for solitary bees. Pauline’s commitment to never interfere in the behaviour or habitat of her subjects in pursuit of her envisaged photographs makes her exploration of the macro world an immersive experience, as she enjoys so much time simply observing and learning about her subjects while she waits for natural shots of them going about their ‘buzziness’.

St Cyrus became a National Nature Reserve in 1962. The dune grassland, well-drained and nutrient rich, supports over 300 species of plant. Vetches, speedwell, ragwort … the list of pollinator friendly flowers is expansive. Abandoned churches and fishing stations tell the tale of human association with this site and today it is a highly popular visitor destination.

The pollinator trail is designed to help you get the most out of your visit. And as for the pollinators?  Well, they are certainly well catered for and we hope that trail will help raise awareness of not only this range of insects, but what you can do to help them thrive in Scotland.

Find out more about St Cyrus National Nature Reserve

Find out more about the Pollinator Strategy for Scotland

Images 1 and 2 of St Cyrus Panels, images 3 (composite) and 4 by Pauline Smith.

Bog standard

In the Carse of Stirling crouches a squat peatland gem — Flanders Moss National Nature Reserve. Well known for its raised bog, lizards and dragonflies, it also sports a fascinating pollinator trail. For those with a head for heights, a much loved viewing tower offers extensive views, and on the near cloudless day that I visited you could sense the scale of the site and see distant mountain peaks glinting on the horizon.

Home to the largest lowland raised bog in Britain, Flanders Moss boasts wonderful sphagnum mosses and an insight into peatland action. The array of colourful mosses are just one beautiful feature in a reserve which demonstrates how peatlands tackle climate change. Carbon in the peat domes has been locked up by the rewetting of the surface, and the restarting of peat formation by a growing sphagnum carpet locks up yet more carbon.  The sturdy boardwalk, which offers an enticing circuit, is a big draw offering a chance to see close up this vital sodden habitat which is otherwise notoriously difficult to access. 

The pollinator trail begins at the car park meadow and features two signs explaining the value of the flowers that flourish here. There’s a bumpy track from the B822 to reach this point, but drive slowly and soon you spot picnic benches and the meadow. In late April there were bees and butterflies aplenty, enjoying the dandelions and early primroses. Vivid bright orange common carders were out in good numbers, and buff-tailed bumblebees flitted languidly between the flower heads and the nearby willow catkins.

Stroll over the little wooden bridge, head through the enticing dappled shade cast by the birches and willows, and you arrive at the brooding wooden viewing tower, built in 2009, and the start of the boardwalk. It was back in the early 1980s that this reserve was declared and visitors have been enjoying the watery delights of this tranquil lowland site ever since. 

As the boardwalk weaves across ‘the moss’ you will encounter various pollinator signs.  On the day I visited I could see visitors stopping and reading the short information panels which, more often than not, sparked a conversation point. The hoverflies panel was popular, but those covering buzz pollination and carnivorous plants seemed to make folk linger longest. Keep a watchful eye for lizards. They seemingly bask on the boardwalk, particularly the raised edges, but are actually very alert and dart away at the merest tremor as you walk towards them.

A few seating areas, with impressive views, are well worth pausing on as you absorb the rich variety of colours you find in this habitat. One faces west and another east in a cleverly ‘hedge your bets’ touch.  Close your eyes and the sounds of skylarks, stonechats, and curlews will surely drift in to soothe you.

From the boardwalk (if you have walked in a clockwise direction) there is a short ramble through woodlands which skirt the eastern fringe of the reserve and here the ‘Useless pile of wood?’ panel reveals the value of not being over tidy when it comes to making space for nature.

Flanders Moss sits amidst busy farming communities and offers a degree of continuity in what can be a landscape constantly changing to meet the needs of farming seasons.  The relationship with people is writ large in the history of this site and the bog would have been much larger in centuries gone by, only to be chipped away as more land was brought into cultivation.

Yet it’s still home to a very special habitat, one that has enjoyed greater appreciation in recent decades. We have mentioned in previous blogs the fact that 97% of our wildflower meadows have been lost since World War Two as an age of intensive farming was ushered in. It’s reckoned that around 94% of our lowland peat bogs have gone too. All of this makes Flanders Moss an oasis of nature that should be enjoyed and cherished … for nature and people alike.

Further information:

Flanders Moss lies between Thornhill to the north and Kippen to the south, and is within easy striking distance of Stirling..