Insh Marshes Mid-week Birch Bash Wednesday 7th September 2022

When I arrived at the meeting place at the allotted time, only one person had turned up (Fiona)! We decided that it would be better for that person to join another group of RSPB volunteers on a different task, allowing me to get on with some other jobs. However, just as I was leaving the site, two more people turned up (Ewan and Amy) a tad late! So, I ended up birch bashing with the two latecomers.

Before - Ewan and Amy clearing Birch

Our task was to uproot young birch trees, with tree-poppers, that were shading out aspen suckers, the foodplant of dark bordered beauty moths. Insh is currently one of only two Scottish sites for this species. Although there were only three of us, we had a productive day, creating two cleared areas.

 

After - cleared area

Wildlife highlight of the day for me, was Ewan’s find of a Large Poplar Borer – an extremely scarce longhorn beetle that I’ve probably seen only twice in 22 years of working at Insh Marshes!

                               Pete Moore

 

 

Large Poplar Borer - Saperda carcharias