Culbin Bar Kidney Vetch Survey - Sunday 23rd of July 2017

Eight folk walked out to the Bar on a grey but mild morning. We walked along to the far western end of the Bar where we watched Dunlins at close range and saw Bar-tailed Godwits in orangey summer plumage. Over a cuppa and a snack we worked out how to use the “tracking” function on our GPS’s and then split into teams and walked back along the Bar recording Kidney Vetch, the food-plant of Small Blue butterfly. By mapping the locations and extent of Kidney Vetch, Izzy, the RSPB Warden, will know where to prioritise winter scrub clearance to avoid the Kidney Vetch getting shaded out. Essentially, we found one enormous patch of Kidney Vetch occupying an extensive area of short vegetation and bare shingle but very little elsewhere.

The clouds cleared during the afternoon and it was good to see a number of Graylings become active. One member of the group saw a Small Copper.

By the time we got back to the cars at the end of the afternoon, we had walked about 7 miles over shingle and rough terrain, so it had been quite tiring but we had achieved the objective of mapping Kidney Vetch and had great views of Graylings. But as one team member remarked, above all else it had been an amazing place to spend a day.

Pete Moore