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Alan Watson Featherstone

ECOLOGIST, NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER AND INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKER
FOUNDER OF THE AWARD-WINNING CHARITY TREES FOR LIFE

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Alan’s blog

Alan’s blog

Alan’s blog

These blogs feature my writing and photographs from my experiences out in the Caledonian Forest and other natural ecosystems. Please subscribe to receive automatic notifications when new blog posts are added.

The abundant life of dead wood, part 3

Findhorn Hinterland: 20 August 2022 2 Comments

This blog is the third in a series, and follows on from Part 1, in which I wrote about the role of fungi in helping to break down dead wood, and Part 2, which focussed on slime moulds. Here I’ll describe some of the invertebrates associated with dead wood, including springtails and mites.

Springtail (Neanura muscorum) amongst common jellyspot fungi (Dacrymyces stillatus) on an old pine log on the Findhorn Hinterland.

A variety of small invertebrates can usually be found by close examination of dead wood, and amongst the most common of these are springtails. Known in scientific terms as Collembola, they are hexapods (ie creatures with six legs), but are not insects – they are differentiated from that group by having internal mouthparts (whereas insects have external mouthparts).

[Read more…] about The abundant life of dead wood, part 3

The abundant life of dead wood, part 2

Findhorn Hinterland: 18 August 2022 Leave a Comment

Slime mould (Arcyria ferruginea) and springtails (Hypogastrura sp., possibly Hypogastrura purpurescens) on a section of a pine log, Findhorn Hinterland.

In the first part of this blog I focussed mainly on the role of fungi in the decomposition of dead wood and referred only briefly in passing to some of the other organisms that thrive in the resource and habitat that is created when a tree dies and its trunk falls to the ground. Here I’ll focus on slime moulds, and in part 3 of the blog I’ll feature some of the other life forms that can readily be seen by looking closely at dead wood, with examples primarily from the Findhorn Hinterland area.

[Read more…] about The abundant life of dead wood, part 2

The abundant life of dead wood, part 1

Findhorn Hinterland: 23 March 2022 4 Comments

Common jellyspot fungi (Dacrymyces stillatus) and heather rags lichen (Hypogymnia physodes) on a pine log, Findhorn Hinterland.

Over the winter of 2021-2022 Scotland has been hit by a number of named storms, with Storm Arwen in particular causing considerable damage in the coastal area of Moray near Findhorn. On the night of 26th November 2021 Arwen blew down more than 100 trees in the small area of pine woodland on the land surrounding the Findhorn Community that is managed by the Findhorn Hinterland Trust (FHT).

[Read more…] about The abundant life of dead wood, part 1

Gannets galore, part 2

Moray Firth coast: 19 January 2022 7 Comments

A pair of gannets on the cliff top at the RSPB’s Troup Head Reserve in July 2021.

When I visited the RSPB’s Troup Head Reserve in the middle of July in 2021, I was so impressed by the spectacle of mainland Scotland’s largest colony of gannets (Morus bassanus) that I returned for another visit with my wife a couple of weeks later, on 1st August. In the course of those two trips I was able to see and document a lot of the behaviour of the birds, as well as observing some of the other species that nest on the cliffs there, resulting in this blog extending to a second part.

[Read more…] about Gannets galore, part 2

Gannets galore, part 1

Moray Firth coast: 13 January 2022 1 Comment

Gannets (Morus bassanus) in flight beside others with their chicks on a cliff at the RSPB’s Troup Head Reserve.

One of the highlights for me during the past year was the two visits I made in the summer to the RSPB’s Troup Head Reserve. Situated on the Aberdeenshire coast just east of Banff and about 60 miles from where I live at Findhorn, it is the site of mainland Scotland’s largest colony of gannets. Despite this relative proximity I’d not been there before so when a friend suggested a visit in the middle of July I was very happy to take him up on the invitation.

[Read more…] about Gannets galore, part 1

A shieldbug extravaganza, part 2

Findhorn Hinterland: 11 September 2020 10 Comments

Teneral adult parent bugs (Elasmucha grisea), with one still emerging or moulting from its final instar exuvia on the left, on a leaf of a silver birch (Betula pendula) in the Findhorn Hinterland area.

After my two visits to the birch trees with an abundance of shieldbugs on them that I wrote about in Part 1 of this blog I went across to the west coast of Scotland for a few days, so it was over a week later before I returned to have another look for them. I didn’t know whether they would still be there, or if they would have all metamorphosed into adults and dispersed already, so I approached the trees without any great expectations of what I would find.

[Read more…] about A shieldbug extravaganza, part 2

A shieldbug extravaganza, part 1

Findhorn Hinterland: 28 August 2020 10 Comments

Final instar nymphs of parent bugs (Elasmucha grisea) on the leaf of a silver birch (Betula pendula) on the Findhorn Hinterland.

On 1st August 2020 I was making my monthly round of the Findhorn Hinterland area to check the series of 6 pitfall traps we’ve installed for an ongoing survey of spiders there. To reach the first couple of trap sites I had to pass a prominent cluster of three large, multi-trunked silver birch trees (Betula pendula) that have grown closely together, and I often stop to have a look at them, to see if there is anything of interest on their leaves.

[Read more…] about A shieldbug extravaganza, part 1

Tagged With: biodiversity, birch, Findhorn, insects, shieldbug

Life on a spear thistle

Findhorn Hinterland: 7 August 2020 7 Comments

Spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare) in flower in the Findhorn Hinterland area in the middle of July.

For just over two years now I’ve been a trustee of the Findhorn Hinterland Trust, a local charity that manages about 35 hectares of land surrounding the Findhorn Community, where I live. The site includes sand dunes and dune heath rich in lichens, dune scrub consisting mostly of gorse, species-rich grassland and an old pine plantation that is gradually being restored to native woodland.

[Read more…] about Life on a spear thistle

A twinflower day

Cairngorms National Park: 15 July 2020 13 Comments

Twinflower (Linnea borealis) in flower in Upper Port Wood in the Cairngorms National Park on 12th July 2020.

With the travel restrictions that have been imposed as part of the COVID-19 response, it’s been over four months since I was able to get out to any of my favourite places in the Caledonian Forest, such as Glen Affric. By 10th July, when those limitations were relaxed in Scotland, I was keen to reconnect with the forest and its seasonal phenomena. Top of my list was the opportunity to see twinflower (Linnea borealis), one of the rare plants in the Caledonian Forest, in blossom.

[Read more…] about A twinflower day

Tagged With: aphids on birch trees, Cairngorms National Park, Caledonian Forest, Linnea borealis, plant galls, Twinflower

Unseen biodiversity of Glen Affric, part 3

Glen Affric: 24 March 2019 8 Comments

IMG_4593-Caterpillar-of-the-poplar-hawkmoth-Laothoe-populi-on-an-aspen-leaf
Caterpillar of the poplar hawkmoth (Laothoe populi) on the leaf of an aspen tree (Populus tremula) at Dog Falls in Glen Affric.

This blog follows on from Part 1 and Part 2 in this series with the same name, covering some of the species and ecological relationships I observed in Glen Affric during my visits there in 2018. It picks up the story in the middle of August, when the forest was full of a wide diversity of insects, many of them feeding on the flowering plants that flourish in the later stages of summer.

[Read more…] about Unseen biodiversity of Glen Affric, part 3
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Recent posts

  • The abundant life of dead wood, part 3
  • The abundant life of dead wood, part 2
  • The abundant life of dead wood, part 1
  • Gannets galore, part 2
  • Gannets galore, part 1

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    Alan Watson Featherstone Follow

    Ecologist, nature photographer and inspirational speaker. Founder of the award-winning charity Trees for Life that is restoring the Caledonian Forest.

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    alanwatsonfeat1 Alan Watson Featherstone @alanwatsonfeat1 ·
    16 May

    This is a red birch midget micro-moth (Phyllonorycter ulmifoliella) on a leaf of a silver birch (Betula pendula) on the Findhorn Hinterland today. The second photo includes part of my thumbnail & provides a sense of scale, showing how tiny this micro-moth is!

    Reply on Twitter 1923503148754239815 Retweet on Twitter 1923503148754239815 Like on Twitter 1923503148754239815 4 Twitter 1923503148754239815
    alanwatsonfeat1 Alan Watson Featherstone @alanwatsonfeat1 ·
    16 May

    Here's a mid-instar nymph of a red-legged shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes) with an alate or winged silver birch aphid (Euceraphis betulae) riding shotgun on it, on a twig of a silver birch (Betula pendula) on the Findhorn Hinterland today!

    Reply on Twitter 1923498632692613544 Retweet on Twitter 1923498632692613544 Like on Twitter 1923498632692613544 2 Twitter 1923498632692613544
    alanwatsonfeat1 Alan Watson Featherstone @alanwatsonfeat1 ·
    16 May

    Mid-instar nymph of a red-legged shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes) on a silver birch (Betula pendula) on the Findhorn Hinterland today.

    Reply on Twitter 1923495834399781073 Retweet on Twitter 1923495834399781073 1 Like on Twitter 1923495834399781073 3 Twitter 1923495834399781073
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