SWSEIC Recording Group at Glenmidge, 7th May 2025

The first SWSEIC recorder’s day of the year was at Glenmidge where ten recorders joined us on the day. Collectively we gathered 298 records for the site, totalling 232 species.

The site visited covers 12 hectares of land that was purchased on behalf of the community by the Glenmidge Burn Project in 2024. The area to be surveyed included a variety of grassland and scrub habitats adjacent to the Glenmidge Burn, and we initially gathered at the home of Glenmidge resident (and chair of the Glenmidge Burn Project) Mark Zygadlo. Upon our arrival a Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus was observed on our host’s car – not a bad way to get the day started!

Basecamp was established in an adjacent field and, once the full complement of wildlife recorders had assembled, we started going through the moth and mammal traps, some of  which had been kindly hosted by several residents in and around Glenmidge. Three of our Longworth traps had triggered, revealing two Wood Mice Apodemus sylvaticus and a Bank Vole Myodes glareolus. In the six moth traps we caught 26 species, of which the more interesting finds included Clouded Silver Lomographa temerata and Parsnip Moth Depressaria radiella.

Afterwards our recorders where unleashed on the land bought by the Glenmidge Burn Project and some of us also explored the Glenmidge burn further down the valley. Richard and Barbara Mearns found Fruitlet Mining Tortrix Pammene rhediella. We only have three previous records for the species in Dumfries & Galloway in our database, all largely coastal, so this appears to be a very interesting inland record. Paul Cobb found a number of good records including Elm-currant Aphid Eriosoma patchiae, a gall forming midge on Elm which looks like a first vice-county record for Dumfriesshire. Paul also bagged another vice-county first for Dumfriesshire with Phytobia carbonaria, a stem-mining fly on Hawthorn which is almost certainly more widespread than currently known as our keener Ayrshire recorders, including Paul, seem to find it nearly everywhere they look for it! Fork-jawed Nomad Bee Nomada ruficornis (a cuckoo bee which is a specialist kleptoparasite of the Orange-tailed Mining Bee Andrena haemorrhoa) was recorded by Jon Noad, a species with only a few previous Dumfriesshire records and certainly new for the site and 10km square. Jon also found Common Black Spider-wasp Anoplius nigerrimus, a spider hunting wasp which similarly only had one previous Dumfriesshire record. Lorraine Hall and Malcolm Haddow logged a number of good records on the day. An Adder Vipera berus was sighted halfway up Kirkbride Hill, confirming that the site was home to all three terrestrial reptile species in our area as there were previous records of Slow-worm and Viviparous Lizard.  They also recorded Wood Hairy-clubhorn Trichiosoma lucorum, a sawfly with only three prior records in our area. The uncommon Green Marsh Hoverfly Lejogaster metallina was swept from Broom and was a welcome surprise and Broom-leaf Beetle Gonioctena olivacea proved to be abundant on the Broom on the site. The sunny weather led to plenty of butterflies on show, including numerous Orange-tips Anthocharis cardamines and early records of Wall Lasiommata megera and Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus.

There were a few uncommon plants reported by recorders. Most notable were several flowering Crab Apples Malus sylvestris which we have been informed had been genetically tested previously by The Royal Botanical Garden of Edinburgh as part of a Galloway Crab Apple Project ran by Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands and Jools Cox from the South West Community Woodlands Trust. Crosswort Cruciata laevipes flowered in abundance in and around Glenmidge much to our Ayrshire and Galloway recorders’ delight – its easterly distribution in Dumfries & Galloway makes it an uncommon sight for wildlife recorders from the west and north of the region. Mark Pollitt and Zöe Gardener also noted Fool’s-water-cress Helosciadium nodiflorum,  a perennial herb of shallow water which, though uncommon locally, grows well on the fringes of the burn.

We would like to say a huge thanks to all the volunteers who came to support us on the day. The findings will be shared with the Glenmidge Burn Project so that they can support their understanding of the site and influence their management. A special thanks is owed to Mark Zygadlo who provide a space for us to park on the day and offered a great degree of help in setting up straps and moving equipment.

An overview of some of the records recorded at this community site can be viewed on the iRecord and iNaturalist websites. If you should visit the area, please do record your sightings.

If you have a site in Ayrshire or Dumfries & Galloway that you think would be worth us visiting and would be accessible for a small group to visit please do get in touch.

If you are interested in joining our recording group you can do so here.