Dundreggan News - November 2009

Autumn at Dundreggan has been very pleasant with some lovely sunny days and so far not too cold. The leaves have been slow to turn due to the lack of sharp frosts and I have been appreciating this extended summer. The glen has been misty in the early mornings and the red deer stags have been roaring for a few weeks now often accompanied by the high pitched whistle of the Sika deer. I am regularly reminded what a beautiful place this is to live and work by the numerous visitors who have dropped in on me since I moved here.

Lodge Renovations

Work to upgrade the lodge for multi-occupancy to comply with fire regulations and disabled access began in early August with the work due to be completed in mid September. This allowed a generous three week period to complete the redecoration and final touches before Conservation Holidays were due to recommence on October 10th. Needless to say there were considerable hiccups along the way and we still had builders on site on October 9th. The decorating was completed on time thanks to the efforts of numerous staff and volunteers, and particular appreciation must go to Norman Thomas whose attention to detail, high standards and sterling efforts in co-ordinating the work produced a very high quality finish.

The local Dundreggan team, ably led by Allan Common (despite stalking commitments) pulled out all the stops to ensure every bed had a sheet and pillow, all the windows were sparkling, tables and chairs collected from the village hall in time for the arrival of 15 German students on Saturday afternoon, 10th October – thanks to Jane Bowman and Graham Wood. We are now drawing up plans for phase 2 (& phase 3!), to include extra showers and toilets, which we hope to make a start on between the autumn and spring Conservation Holidays, finances permitting. The log-fired outdoor hot tub is on hold for now!

Ongoing Work

Thanks once again to generous donations from the Audrey and JJ Martindale Foundation numerous purchases have been made to help with the running of the estate. The new deer larder is now up and running which, along with a new rifle, has helped Allan Common make a very productive start to the stalking season. His speed and skill with a sharp knife in the larder certainly has impressed me. We have also benefited over the summer from a new lawn tractor, two new trailers and a small roller, which is used for crushing bracken (towed behind the quad bike).

We have finally received notification that grants from the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) have been approved, so it is full steam ahead on fence construction for the wild boar enclosure, along with fences and ground preparation for two tree planting schemes which will be carried out by Conservation Holiday volunteers over the next 15 months. In anticipation of the wild boar arriving we have been carrying out surveys on the density, height and mass of underground rhizomes with the assistance of Liz Balharry, using the same methodology as she used in the Guisachan Wild Boar Project. By monitoring the effect of the boar on bracken in this way we hope to build up information on the use of these animals in bracken control and also to make areas of Dundreggan more suitable for natural regeneration of the trees.

The Conservation Holiday at the beginning of September did a great job in removing a large section of old fence that runs parallel to the Red Burn. This fence demarcates the boundary of the common grazings, which our crofting tenant John Grant has grazing rights on. The old iron and oak posts have been retained to mark the line of the fence and also as a habitat for lichen and moths – Jane Bowman has found examples of the Nationally Scarce Rannoch brindled beauty moth (Lycia lapponaria) on the old oak posts. In addition to this the group spent a productive couple of days removing non-native trees within the conifer plantation. This is a 300 hectare plantation originally planted in 1985, and there are some remnant native woodland fragments within it, as well as regenerating Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) and juniper (Juniperus communis). We will be targeting an area of poorly growing Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) for felling during the autumn Conservation Holidays. This clearance, together with the presence of some planted Scots pine and existing open space, will make a significant impact in converting that part of the plantation to native woodland.

Grants

As well as the SRDP grants mentioned above we have been successful in gaining an Awards for All grant for £9,994 which will be used to purchase equipment including new furniture and bedding for the lodge and additional tools for the Conservation Holidays. We are also waiting to hear from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s ‘Your Heritage’ programme regarding an application for funding to improve the access to Dundreggan for visitors. If this is successful we plan to provide a small car park, three way-marked trails, some interpretation panels and leaflets. We also hope to carry out some archaeological surveys, combining that with providing some training in archaeological survey techniques for local people.

Steve Morris

Biodiversity Discoveries

It was a busy summer and early autumn for biodiversity surveys on Dundreggan, with specialist surveyors out looking at spiders, lichens, fungi, mammals and Diptera (two-winged flies) on the estate. I was able to join them on a number of occasions, learning from their expert knowledge and improving my own fledgling identification skills for the various groups of organisms. We’ve yet to receive most of their reports, however, as the field work needs to be followed up by detailed study with microscopes indoors to determine the species, especially for small invertebrates such as spiders (many of the UK species are apparently about 1- 2 mm in size, so identifying them correctly is painstaking and detailed work).

However, we have some preliminary results from most of the surveys, and they include some very interesting discoveries. The lichen survey is covered in a separate report, and in addition to adding substantially to the list of lichen species recorded on the estate, it also included the discovery of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) listed running crab spider (Philodromus margaritatus). This has subsequently been recorded at other sites on the estate by Jane Bowman, myself and Alastair Lavery, who carried out the spider survey for us. Another interesting observation during the spider survey was of a female wolf spider (Alopecosa pulverulenta) carrying her babies on her back. Wolf spiders (Lycosidae family) are unique amongst spiders in carrying their egg sacs around with them, and when the young hatch out, they climb up their mother’s legs and crowd together on her abdomen, as can be seen here.

Liz Holden photographing a fungus (Leccinum albostipitatum) during her survey on Dundreggan in September.

Liz Holden carried out a fungi survey for us on Dundreggan in 2007, and
her work this year was planned to fill in gaps in the coverage from her
first visit, and to add to the species list, as many fungi do not fruit every year. In fact, 2009 turned out to be a bumper year for fungi at Dundreggan, and during early September, in parts of the old birchwood,
it was hard to avoid stepping on chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius), such was their abundance! Amongst Liz’s discoveries this year were some
more BAP-listed tooth fungi – we’re still awaiting confirmation of how many species she found, as there is some taxonomic uncertainty about the tooth fungi group, and how many different ones there are in Scotland. Other species that had not been recorded on Dundreggan before include the destroying angel (Amanita virosa) and the evocatively-named jelly baby fungus (Leotia lubrica).

Mammals are, for the most part, much harder to observe than other groups such as fungi or insects, because most of the UK species are nocturnal. Liz Balharry therefore concentrated much of her survey work
on searching for signs of mammals, such as dung, rather than the actual animals themselves. Amongst the most significant of those that she’s been able to confirm as being present on the estate are the BAP-listed water vole (Arvicola terrestris) and three out of the four bat species occurring in Scotland, including the BAP-listed brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus), which she found were roosting in the steading building, adjacent to Dundreggan cottage.

Finally, Graham Rotheray began the survey for Diptera (two-winged flies) in mid-October, but the main part of his work will now take place next year – we look forward to 2010 being another fruitful and exciting year for discovering more of the biological diversity on Dundreggan.

Alan Watson Featherstone
 

Pages about Biodiversity on Dundreggan on this site

New discoveries in charity's 'Lost world' Highland Estate - 20th January 2012
Biodiversity News - April 2011
Rare and endangered species found in Highlands estate's "lost world" - 17th December 2010
Rare sawfly discovered for first time in UK - 5th November 2010
Biodiversity surveys and discoveries - October 2010
Biodiversity surveys at Dundreggan - May 2010
Alder tongue fungus found at Dundreggan (and near Plodda Lodge) - 15 April 2010
Biodiversity surveys identify over 50 key species on Highland Estate - 15th February 2010
Biodiversity discoveries - November 2009
Biodiversity surveys - August 2009
Surveys and biodiversity discoveries - November 2008
Reaping the results of our biodiversity surveys - May 2008
Dundreggan's diversity keeps growing! - November 2007
Biodiversity on Dundreggan - First impressions, August 2006
Biodiversity on Dundreggan

Pages about Dundreggan on this site

• Dundreggan home page
• Become a Friend of Dundreggan
• The Dundreggan Estate - the perfect site for forest restoration. Management plan in brief.
• £1.65 million Dundreggan deal a milestone for Scotland's Caledonian Forest
• Our purchase of Dundreggan is complete, at last - August 2008
• Dundreggan News: articles from 2006 to the present
• First impressions of Dundreggan's potential for forest restoration
• Biodiversity on Dundreggan - First impressions, August 2006
• Biodiversity on Dundreggan
• The History of the Dundreggan Estate