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SWSEIC share short articles about events, activities, local sites and species – in fact anything related to wildlife recording – on these blog pages. Contributions come not just from SWSEIC staff but also from local wildlife recorders. Examples include

If you’d like to write an article about any aspect of local wildlife or wildlife recording, please contact SWSEIC for more information.

Hunt for the Bog Bush-cricket

The SWSEIC team took a morning excursion to Aucheninnes Moss in search of one of the regions rarest insects, the Bog Bush-cricket Metrioptera brachyptera, which is only found on two sites in Scotland.

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Site of the Month: Ballochmyle Gorge (October 2022)

Ballochmyle Gorge, a spectacular sandstone gorge of the River Ayr near Mauchline, is densely clothed in broadleaved woodland. Ash Fraxinus excelsior and Pedunculate Oak Quercus robur are the most frequent mature trees, but with significant amounts of Beech Fagus

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Site of the Month: Muirdrochwood (September 2022)

Muirdrochwood was bought from Forestry and Land Scotland in March 2021 by Carsphairn Community Woodland Ltd on behalf of the Community of Carsphairn. Community ownership of the woodland will provide greater access to the countryside, create

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Smarter wildlife recording

It hasn’t taken long for wildlife recording to embrace the power of the smartphone technology at our finger tips. Visit the android or apple app stores and you will find

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SW Scotland webcams

Given the current lockdown on movements during the Covid-19 outbreak, it seemed like a good idea to seek out what aspects of the region’s wildlife was on show via the

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2019: Summer of the Shieldbug

Guest blog by Alison Robertson As someone interested in moths, particularly micro-moths, I spend a lot of time staring at trees.  Sometimes a slight movement or a flash of colour

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Amphibian and Reptile ID day at Shewalton

On Tuesday 30th April, ten people joined staff from SWSEIC and Garnock Connections’ Wildlife Recording Assistant Elouise Cartner at the Dundonald Links golf club (just south  of Irvine) for an opportunity

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False Blister beetles in Scotland

by Bruce Philp I have had an interest in the Scottish Oedemera species (False blister beetles) for some time. Their relative distributions of the two main species found in Scotland

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BRISC conference 2017

A great day was had by Where’s Wildlife in Ayrshire at the Biological Recording in Scotland (BRISC) annual conference, this year held in Ayrshire at the field station on Cumbrae. 

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Bog wildlife microscope ID workshop

Where’s Wildlife in Ayrshire and the East Ayrshire Coalfield Environment Initiative joined forces for an afternoon of investigating and identifying bog wildlife collected from a bog in East Ayrshire. Samples

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When it rains, it pours!

As is the trend with Where’s Wildlife in Ayrshire, it rained on the last of our dragonfly ID training days….not just a little, but it poured, twice! However this did

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Bumblebees galore at Belleisle

Where’s Wildlife in Ayrshire had the pleasure of welcoming Bumblebee Conservation Trust to Belleisle estate in Ayr for a day of Bumblebee identification.  Helen Dickinson, survey and GIS officer from the

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Butterfly ID day at Gailes Marsh

The somewhat drizzly and windy weather did not dampen out spirits on the first of three butterfly ID days in Ayrshire.  For the morning classroom session we used the newly

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What have we recorded so far?

The Where’s Wildlife project has been running for 8 months now and we have been gradually collecting records from across the region. We will very soon be launching the recording

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Mammals at Bogside Flats

by Alistair Murdoch Location Bogside Flats SSSI (centred on NS3039) is an extensive area of mudflats, salt marsh and grassland adjacent to the Ayrshire coastal town of Irvine. The intertidal

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Moth ID Morning at Auchincruive

A sunny morning at Auchincruive provided us with an array of beautiful moths from moth traps placed in the woodlands on Auchincruive estate. Traps were placed at various locations at

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Website by Red Paint

SUP is registered in Scotland as a company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Registered address: The Southern Uplands Partnership, Studio 2, Lindean Mill, Galashiels, TD1 3PE. Company No. SC200827 / Charity No. SCO29475

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