The Wildlife Information Centre

The first meeting of the Lothians and Borders Mammal Group will be on Thursday 24 March at 7-9pm, in the Committee Room of Midlothian House, Buccleuch Street, Dalkeith. The meeting will consist of an introduction to the committee of the group and other formalities including draft survey and events programme for 2011, before we get onto the talk from our guest speaker. The talk will be by Rob Thomas, Conservation and Research Manager at Edinburgh Zoo, on Wildcats, Beavers and Water Voles, so there should be something to interest everyone. Following the talk there will be the opportunity to ask questions and afterwards there will be coffee, tea and biscuits.

Posted: March 4th 2011

TWIC is looking to recruit three new Directors to join its Board. As a Director, you will be fundamental in shaping TWIC’s future and contribute to the strategic direction of TWIC. As a member of the Board you will a Director of the Company and a Trustee of the charity. Responsibilities include ensuring that appropriate policies and programmes are developed and implemented, meeting the Centre’s legal obligations and ensuring financial and personnel policies are implemented. There are exciting prospects to contribute to the further expansion of customers and our services as well as supporting staff and volunteers in developing projects to improve our knowledge of the biodiversity of Lothians and Scottish Borders. For further information and a job description please click here

Posted: March 1st 2011

TWIC's Spring Recorders' Forum will take place on Saturday 26th March 2011 at the Scottish Borders' Council Headquarters in Newtown St Boswells. There will be talks by representatives from various organisations, a free lunch, posters and displays to look at over lunch, and a chance to get up on the stage to promote your own surveys/events if you are planning any this year. Please see here for the full programme and link to booking form. Space is limited so booking is essential! Hope to see you there.

Updated: February 16th 2011

I have been in post since October 2009 and during my first 3-4 months in post i visited numerous landowners and tenants to talk about Black Grouse and to get an idea on how many birds each location had. From these visits i had built up an idea of how many birds were to be found and where. However during the severe winter of 2009/10 the news that Red grouse were being forced off their moors in search of food became a recurrent nightmare for me. The pictures of birds sat in trees away from their moorland habitat brought home how difficult successful conservation work can become in the face of unfavourable weather. I was concerned that the vast majority of Black Grouse were likely to die in the bitter weather and that the upcoming Southern Uplands Black Grouse Survey would prove to be an anti-climax with few birds surviving through to Spring.

The Southern Uplands Black Grouse Survey started in mid March with snow still visible on many hills and my apprehension still present. A team consisting of 5 volunteers 1 contract surveyor and myself spent many early mornings listening for the distinctive sounds of lekking Black Grouse and tracking them down across some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain. My doubts on the ability of the birds to survive the severe winter were unfounded as we increasingly found occupied lek sites, although the distribution of them centred on the larger estates focussed on traditional upland management of grouse/sheep, birds were still to be found in low numbers elsewhere.

The final total of 230 lekking males was much better than I had come to expect after such a harsh winter and gave the project a real lift. The overall figure masked the concentration of the population on 3 core sites/areas which had a total of 150 birds between them. However this has now become the focus on a developing strategy for The Borders Black Grouse population.

Habitat management and predator control work carried out within the species dispersal range of the core sites will hopefully lead to range expansion and to the creation of a meta-population. With the interest shown in Black Grouse it is a real opportunity to see a renaissance for the species especially given the funding from the SRDP. Competing land use is an issue in the Borders but I’m certain progress has been made and numbers and range of the species will increase. If anyone has any sightings of Black Grouse to report could they please contact Chris Land on 01750 725157 or email chris@sup.org.uk

Posted: January 26th 2011

TWIC are pleased to announce that we now offer Phase 1 Habitat data for all of Scottish Borders. We would like to thank Scottish Borders Council for supplying us with this data and we hope that it is beneficial to all our customers in their work.

Our data request form now reflects this change in services.

Posted: January 13th 2011

The TWIC Christmas competition is now closed. The winner of the BWPi interactive version of Birds of the Western Palearctic from Birdguides was Dr McGuigan from Montrose. See the correct answers by clicking here, and the original questions by clicking here. Many thanks to those of you who entered!

Posted: January 11th 2011

TWIC would like to wish all its customers and recorders a Happy New Year.

Thank you for your continued custom and support and we look forward to serving you this year.

With best wishes for the upcoming year to all,

the TWIC team.

Updated: January 5th 2011

What's wriggling around in your bin? Take part in the UK wide Compost Earthworm Project today!

The Earthworm Society of Britain needs your help: are there earthworms in every compost bin in Britain?

More and more people now have compost bins or heaps in their gardens as they are an excellent way of recycling garden and household green waste. The resulting compost is excellent for potting and a good fertiliser for use in the rest of the garden.

In many of these bins you can find earthworms. But, have you ever wondered how they get there? Some people buy earthworms to put in their bins, others get them from their neighbours and, in some bins the earthworms just appear by themselves. As part of our dedication to carrying out research about earthworms and their environments across the UK we want to know where all these earthworms come from.

You can help! All you have to do is have a look in your compost bin or heap and see if you can find any earthworms enjoying your tea bags and vegetable scraps, then fill in our short survey telling us about what you found. It's that simple.

It's the perfect excuse for getting a little bit dirty this autumn and finding out more about what is wriggling around in your compost!

Find out more about the survey here: www.earthwormsoc.org.uk/projects/compost-earthworms-project

Posted: December 17th 2010

The Wildlife Information Centre has teamed up with four other Local Records Centres/Centres for Biological Recording in Scotland and the NBN Trust to provide 1-day identification and data mobilisation workshops. The aim of these workshops is to train Recorders in taxonomic groups that are unfamiliar to them and target regions where there is a lack of expert recorders in a particular taxon, thereby encouraging more recording.

Each workshop will cover:

• Introduction to the taxon group including its ecology and niches

• Identification techniques

• Recording techniques

• Identification of common and key species

• Recording schemes relevant to the taxon group

• Data and recording techniques

• Submitting data to records centres, recording schemes and the NBN

ALL COURSES ARE NOW FULLY BOOKED.

Updated: January 5th 2010

**** PRESS RELEASE ****

It is with great excitement that I can share TWIC’s latest news with you. Thanks to Local Authority support and a generous grant from the Central Scotland Green Network Development Fund, TWIC successfully recruited three staff for our pioneering winter Phase 1 habitat surveys of all 145 proposed Local Biodiversity Sites across the Lothians. In addition TWIC has employed a new Data Assistant too. We had around 300 applicants for the posts, amazingly! All four staff are now in post and settling in well to our expanded office space at Vogrie.

We have been joined by Natalie Harmsworth from Somerset Environmental Records Centre (SERC) as the Data Coordinator for the CSGN LBS survey project, who will be directing and coordinating the work of the two very experienced Field Surveyors, Innes Muir and Gill Christie.

Rebecca Brassey (previously Forest Research) joins us as Data Assistant to assist us with data entry for the BSBI project, the RED Squirrels Southern Scotland data project and other priority data, greatly adding to TWIC’s resources.

Claire L. Pannell, Centre Manager

Posted: December 10th 2010

We recently received a DVD which was sent to us by staff at Cameron Toll Shopping Centre in Edinburgh. Security staff monitoring CCTV cameras in the early hours of the morning spotted an otter rolling around in the grass and water. They couldn’t believe their eyes and sent it to us for a second opinion and we confirmed that it was indeed an otter!

Otters are by their nature an unusual sighting so to see them in the centre of Edinburgh is very rare. There have been a few sightings in recent years in more populated areas and this could be an indication that the environment is improving and is providing a habitat they can survive in.

You can watch the news report about the otter that was on STV by clicking here.

We are keen to hear from anyone about other otter sightings and sightings of any other rare animals so that we can keep track of their populations and movements.

Posted: November 15th 2010

Two records of the huge Death’s Head Hawkmoth (Acherontia atropos) with a wingspan of up to 13 cms have been found in the Lothians recently. One in Roslin by David Burns on the 28th August (pictured) and another seen by June McDonald at South Queensferry on the 11th September.

These huge moths are immigrants from the continent and their caterpillars feed on potato leaves but normally appear here in the autumn when their numbers are at their greatest and the weather conditions suitable. The name comes from the very realistic pattern on the thorax – once seen never forgotten! Are there any more about?

Posted: November 12th 2010

With the death of Bob Saville The Wildlife Information Centre has lost one of its key inspirers. He was the person who created the record centre and through his personal enthusiasm and good ideas, brought it to its current position of being one of the leading LRCs in the UK. Without doubt Bob Saville was one of the best known faces in biological recording in Scotland over the last 25 years. His enthusiasm and determination was a lesson to us all on how to understand what was happening in the very complex community of natural historians.

Bob will be most fondly remembered by all that met him and were inspired by him; doing what he loved, observing nature.

For the full obituary please click here

Dr Alastair Sommerville, TWIC Chair, October 2010

Posted: October 29th 2010

Edinburgh Hawkwatch http://www.edinburghhawkwatch.org.uk/ is a new website launched by the Edinburgh Sparrowhawk Monitoring Project. The website has been designed as a place where information is available for someone who has seen a sparrowhawk for the first time. The aim of the website is to increase awareness and support for the the sparrowhawk and other birds of prey. In addition to this the project hopes to gather intensive data on sparrowhawks in the urban environment. Visitors to the website can view videos recorded at sparrowhawk nests in Edinburgh and of sparrowhawk chicks being ringed.

If you see a sparrowhawk in Edinburgh please email the project at edinburghsparrowhawk@gmail.com and if possible include the date, location, grid reference (i.e. NT267706), Sex, Age, Flight Direction, Behaviour and any other details you can. Then tell us all about it on the Forum page.

The Centre has appointed Claire Pannell to be the new Centre manager.

Dr Claire L. Pannell comes to TWIC from the National Museums Scotland Natural Sciences department and is experienced in the issues around data quality, verification and validation. Her interests involve freshwater and terrestrial molluscs, and palaeontology. She brings enthusiasm, drive and commitment to continue TWIC’s expansion of services to other Councils and consultants; for project development and increased volunteer engagement and training initiatives.

Scottish Invertebrate News is a biannual newsletter which aims to update everyone who is interested in invertebrate conservation in Scotland – from the interested amateur to the experienced expert. It includes articles on new initiatives, the latest discoveries, and opportunities to get involved. It also provides updates on the progress of the Strategy, and a calendar of events – from introductory bugwalks to talks to under-recorded species ID workshops, there is something for everybody.

The articles have been written by a range of contributors from different organizations and with different specialisms, providing wide taxonomic coverage. Contributions for future issues are very welcome - this is your newsletter!

We are very pleased to announce that the Centre now has the responsibility for providing its services across the Scottish Borders area as well as the Lothians. We have taken on the role previously held by the Scottish Borders Biological Records Centre (SBBRC) and now extend our services to the Scottish Borders Council and Scottish Natural Heritage in the Borders.

As a result of our new coverage we have changed our name to more accurately reflect what we now do.

It is particularly exciting that we are working with the naturalists in the Borders and have had talks with the existing SBBRC Recorders Group (chaired by Sarah Eno) about meeting their members and holding a Recorders’ Forum in the Borders. We will, of course, be carrying news about the developments as they happen.

There are a great many keen naturalists in the Borders who have contributed in allsorts of ways to the development of the previous record centre and we hope that you will welcome the change to The Wildlife Information Centre. To start to get to know you and what you are doing we have started a Yahoo discussion group specifically for the Borders, paralleling the one we already have in the Lothians.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/borderswildlife

We would encourage all of you in the Borders to also join

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/lothianwildlife/

As a result of the article on Bryan Hickman’s dragonfly sighting, we’ve had an email from Abbie Marland. Abbie spotted a blueberry/mountain bumblebee (Bombus monticola), in her garden in East Lothian. Although the species has been recorded in Edinburgh and West Lothian over the past ten years, there are no previous records of it in East Lothian.

Abbie spotted the bee on 23rd March, where it fed on Sallow for a week. It’s nice to see that despite the recent decline of bumblebee numbers, we are seeing species in new places.

Interestingly, one of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust featured surveys this year is for B. monticola. Links to this, and other surveys, can be found on their website http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/

Bryan Hickman spotted a male Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii) at Blindwells (near Tranent in East Lothian) this month. This species is a regular migrant to the British Isles, mainly in SW England. Although there are scattered records for elsewhere in the UK it has not been recorded in the Lothians since 1911! Back then it was recorded at Aberlady Bay, Edinburgh and the Isle of May.

Bryan posted his find, with photographs, on the Lothian Wildlife Yahoo group. The group provides a great platform to discuss news, events and views relating to Lothian's wildlife. As well as posting your own photos of unusual sightings, you can find out about up-and-coming excursions or ask for advice on where to see the species or groups you are interested in.

To join the Yahoo group go to http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/lothianwildlife/ and click on “Join This Group!”

TWIC is a company limited by guarantee - registered in Edinburgh No. 234339. A recognised Scottish Charity SC034113. TWIC acknowledges financial support from SNH.