Wildlife sightings – Page 3 – Paisley Natural History Society

New Year plant hunt

Two people dressed in waterproofs wearing backpacks and woolly hats bending over looking at plants on the ground. They are standing at the edge of a cobbled lane with stone walls on either side.

Plans for outings are always at the mercy of the weather at this time of year. However, on the morning of the 30th December, the weather looked promising, some sleat was forecast but otherwise it was a dry, clear day. Seven people showed up looking forward to hunting for for wild plants in flower around Oakshaw, Paisley. ContinueContinue reading “New Year plant hunt”

Peatlands of Gleniffer

Bog with clumps of flowering yellow Bog Asphodel and pink Cross-leaved Heath in foreground and grassy hill with trees in background

Introduction The general area occupying undulating and slightly elevated land to the the south of Paisley is part of the Gleniffer Braes. As can be seen from the soil map below there are substantial areas of peatland within this area. Some are intact and some degraded or afforested. ©Crown Copyright Scotland’s Soils maps, Scottish GovernmentContinueContinue reading “Peatlands of Gleniffer”

Streak of the Purple Hairstreak

PNHS member, Kirsty Menzies, has had another successful year raising Purple Hairstreak butterflies from eggs collected from windblown twigs at Hurlethill. This year she managed to raise 10 butterflies, all males, and was lucky enough to see one emerge from its chrysalis. Here you can see the butterfly streaking across an old oak leaf justContinueContinue reading “Streak of the Purple Hairstreak”

Glorious grasslands

PNHS has had a botany-filled fortnight starting with the first of our study group visits to Whinnerston Braes on 29 June followed by our Beginners Botany outing on 6 July. Whinnerston Braes is a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its flower-rich grassland and a group of us went along to have a look andContinueContinue reading “Glorious grasslands”

Report on Green Hairstreak outing at Sergeantlaw Moss

Green Hairstreak, Green-veined White and Orange-tip butterflies, at Sergeantlaw, May 2023 A report on our outing to Sergeantlaw Moss has now been uploaded to our Outing Reports. We had a good turnout of people for the walk, but not of the Green Hairstreak butterflies. Typically, the weather had been very wet the day before andContinueContinue reading “Report on Green Hairstreak outing at Sergeantlaw Moss”

Report on outing to Argaty Red Kites Centre

On the latest PNHS outing, eleven people ventured over to the Red Kite Centre at Doune, on Sunday 16th April, and enjoyed observing red squirrels and 16 species of birds, including the star attraction, the Red Kites. Kirsten Ferguson has written up a fabulous report with some of her photographs giving a flavour of whatContinueContinue reading “Report on outing to Argaty Red Kites Centre”

Amazing Osprey recovery from a Lochwinnoch reared bird

PNHS member, Paul Tatner, got in touch to let us know about this amazing news story. A few weeks ago the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation were sent photographs of a winter female Osprey with a blue-colour ring on its left leg with the number KW0 clearly visible. It turned out to be one of twoContinueContinue reading “Amazing Osprey recovery from a Lochwinnoch reared bird”

Report on lichen walk

Do you know your Peltigeras from your Cladonias? If not, Craig Postlethwaite has written up a report on the lichen walk he led for PNHS members on 26 February. Examining lichens, Gleniffer Braes Country Park, 26 Feb 2023 For those who weren’t able to come along, or for those of us who did but didn’tContinueContinue reading “Report on lichen walk”

Mysteries and marvels

At our PNHS meeting last Thursday some members raised a couple of intriguing topics that led to lots of discussion and speculation. Before Dan Snowden gave his excellent talk on the RSPB Lochwinnoch nature reserve, we had our usual session for members to talk about their sightings. Ryan Kincaid passed round a couple of logsContinueContinue reading “Mysteries and marvels”

Dead tree comes to life

The autumn colours have been glorious over the last few weeks not just the turning leaves but also colours from more unexpected places. Last week when out on a walk in the Fereneze Braes at Barrhead, heading towards Boylestone Quarry, I passed the line of ancient Beech trees marking the boundary of what used toContinueContinue reading “Dead tree comes to life”