Saying hi to spring on the Solway 👋🌼

The winter months seem to have flown by, and spring is slowly taking hold on the Solway. Although most fieldwork takes place during the longer days of summer, Solway Project Officer, Jack, has been monitoring the Greenland white-fronted goose population at West Freugh. These birds will soon start their migration North to their breeding grounds in Greenland and we will be sad to see them go! Numbers of these geese are slightly down again this winter, mainly due to the lack of juveniles arriving from Greenland. Additional winter fieldwork included surveying for Tipulid (cranefly) larvae, which are a key food source for red-billed chough. The results of this survey will help inform habitat management to encourage chough back to the region. 

As the days get warmer some of our target species will start breeding and our project officers are gearing up for a busy survey season. As part of the programme we will be running a series of training days to enable volunteers to get involved, so look out for these advertised in coming weeks. We are particularly excited that we will be using passive acoustic surveys, which involve deploying recording devices in the field to listen for our nocturnal species including bats and natterjack toads. 

We would like to thank the volunteers that joined us for habitat management days this winter, removing scrub such as gorse and willow to protect key areas for northern brown argus and natterjack toad. This is often demanding work in cold and exposed conditions, but can make a vital difference to species conservation.

In addition to volunteers, landowners are a key part of making Species on the Edge a success. So far on the Solway we have engaged with over 40 landowners enabling us to conduct surveys, carry out habitat management and make management recommendations.  

Our fantastic ambassador schools in Cummertrees, Glenluce and Castle Kennedy have enjoyed learning about Species on the Edge. This included a lesson about migration (a number of our species are migratory) and the kids had great fun making paper-model Arctic terns – which are the world’s longest-distance migrant! We look forward to working more with these schools as the programme develops. 

To find out what events and opportunities we have coming up on the Solway Coast, head over to our Upcoming Events page and select Solway.

If you have any questions about Species on the Edge activity on the Solway or you’re looking for more details on getting involved, get in touch with the team:

Liam Templeton, Project Officer, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust: liam.templeton@arc-trust.org

Jack Barton, Project Officer, RSPB Scotland: jack.barton@rspb.org.uk