Author Archives: kirmen

A taster of outings past and future

We had a fabulous day for our July outing, the tree walk in Linwood Moss Community Woodland led by Judy Hayton. Sorry if you missed it, but you can read about how we got on in Judy’s report on it on the Outings page. Our next outing is the evening walk on 4 August atContinueContinue reading “A taster of outings past and future”

Join in the Big Butterfly Count

The Big Butterfly Count started on Friday 15th July and if you haven’t already started counting there’s plenty time as it runs until Sunday 7th August.  Male Common Blue butterfly It is an annual UK-wide survey organised by Butterfly Conservation. By taking part we can help them assess the health of our environment simply by counting the amountContinueContinue reading “Join in the Big Butterfly Count”

Rare opportunity to see Purple Hairstreak butterflies close-up

Purple Hairstreak butterflies spend most of their adult phase living in the upper canopy of mature oak trees. Sometimes you can be lucky and see them close-up just after they emerge from their pupa at ground level. They settle on a twigs and shrubs to fully inflate their wings before flying high into the treetops.ContinueContinue reading “Rare opportunity to see Purple Hairstreak butterflies close-up”

Night owls wanted for Glow-worm hunt

Following up on our post on Glow-worms back in May we are going to start carrying out a few surveys to look for them in Renfrewshire. The first one will be this Thursday 7th June at Castle Semple Country Park in Lochwinnoch. I know it’s short notice but if you don’t have anything else onContinueContinue reading “Night owls wanted for Glow-worm hunt”

Soil and climate change

You may wish to catch up on BBC Sounds, to an interesting programme broadcast on Tuesday 31st May on Radio 4, “Why soil matters”. Jim Al-Khalili on The Life Scientific was interviewing Pete Smith, Science Director of ClimateXChange, Scotland’s climate change centre of expertise. He is one of the world’s leading experts on soil. HeContinueContinue reading “Soil and climate change”

Large Heath butterfly survey workshops

Want to know the difference between a Large Heath (Coenonympha tullia) and other similar species or to learn more about them and the best way to survey for them? Then take a look at the series of free workshops being run by Butterfly Conservation as part of their Large Heath Scottish survey 2022. The adultContinueContinue reading “Large Heath butterfly survey workshops”

PNHS outings for your diary

Paisley Natural History Society has some new outings planned for the coming months. Sunday 17th July – An afternoon of tree identifying with Judy Hayton at Linwood Moss Community Woodland Thursday 4th August – An evening looking for Purple Hairstreak Butterflies with Kirsty Menzies at Shaw Wood Sunday 9th October – An afternoon fungus forayingContinueContinue reading “PNHS outings for your diary”

Help us get glowing reports for Renfrewshire

Who knew that we had glow-worms in Scotland? I certainly didn’t but after watching the fascinating talks in March organised by Charlotte Martin, Scottish Glow-worms researcher, I’m eager to see one and I hope others are too. They aren’t actually worms but beetles of the Firefly family. The only species found in Scotland is theContinueContinue reading “Help us get glowing reports for Renfrewshire”