Mamore Estate hosts the British Dragonfly Society
This week Mamore Estate hosted the British Dragonfly Society, BDS.
The purpose of the visit was to conduct an environmental impact assessment for any protected red listed species at a proposed re-wetting site at the south end of Loch Eilde Mhor. The site visit was hosted by stalkers Blair Nicholson (Mamore), Kirstin Oakley (Glenshero) and Cameron Milne (Killiechonate), whom all got an opportunity to get involved with the site assessments and the marking out of the next planned phase of re-wetting at the site.
There were two specialists from the BDS on site, one to complete the assessment and the other to mark out the peatland the estate plan to restore favourably for a range of endangered species. The aim for the team is to work with BDS to create a more resilient habitat for three rare Scottish species as the climate changes and parts of the landholding dry out. Azure Hawker and Northern Emerald are both confined, within Britain, to Scotland. White-faced Darter has a northern distribution within Britain. All are Red List – Endangered. The Common Hawker and Black Darter will also benefit from this work. Both have recently been moved from the Least Concern to Near Threatened category on the Red List for Britain. The estate and the team will be undertaking additional peatland restoration across the estate in the next few years and hope that the collaboration with the BDS will enable these important species to be fully restored to the area and the estate can start to rebuild wetted landscapes, helping to secure water resilience as well as improve the biodiversity of the area.
As a result of the site assessment the JAHAMA team did find evidence of water voles at the site near Loch Eilde mhor. Images below show the typical 45-degree tooth marks made by a feeding water vole, and these as well as the typical water vole droppings were located at an elevation of approximately 260m. Finding evidence of a resident population at this altitude will now inform how we can progress at the site, also helping JAHAMA in supporting this rare population of water voles.
