We are extremely pleased with the initial results from the 12 hour Bio blitz held on the 5th August 2017 ! Blessed with one of the few fine days this summer, creatures great and small were to be found around our Kieve Mill sites and flowering plants looked stunning in the gorgeous sunshine. All that was needed now were some keen eyes to identify them all. Laura, Lucien and Gary were on hand at 6.30am to empty the mammal traps that had been deployed the evening before and it soon became evident that our log piles created over the last two seasons had already attracted lots of residents with most of the wood mice and bank voles coming from traps placed around them. Meanwhile Kevin was busy putting out all the signs to guide people to the event and to indicate what part of the site you were on. The session really got started at 9.00am as more of the team arrived and by 9.30 the list of flora and fauna was growing rapidly as everyone worked slowly out from base camp into the site. Jo, Shaun, Sally and Yssy, followed a little later by Kathy and George helped create a magnificent list, full details of which are still being drawn up, but one highlight was finding our rare spider Araneus angulatus at this site! The day ended as the sun set but the final treat was to be had as we packed everything back into our cars and the first bats came out to hunt and we listened to them via Gary's bat detector! Very grateful thanks go to everyone who turned up to help and to all the winter volunteers who have helped create this habitat. We will be resuming scrub bashing activities at the end of September and will be having our AGM towards the end of November, full details soon. Below are some pictures from the Bio blitz day taken by Laura and Gary.
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