Findhorn Hinterland

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).

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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