Field Notes: Nature recovers at Glenlude

Glenlude Conservation Officer Ellie Oakley reports on some encouraging early evidence of wildlife recovery spotted while monitoring at our site in the Scottish Borders.

During a hot sunny spell at the end of May we managed to squeeze in a butterfly survey with the intention of looking for small pearl-bordered fritillary.

Small pearl-bordered fritillary are found throughout Scotland and regarded common in some areas, however changing land management has unfortunately caused a significant negative change to their distribution.

In the Scottish Borders, they are now regarded as scarce and most colonies are small and vulnerable, so we were delighted to find 12 of these beauties alongside green hairstreaks and other species of butterflies!

In other monitoring news, the Red Squirrel Group has confirmed there is evidence of red squirrel on site, plus we have spotted one male black grouse inside our boundary - I have seen him twice on different mornings on Glenlude Hill.

I have also seen up to eight males just outside the fence. The last time we recorded those kinds of numbers were back in 2015, when six were recorded. There were no records until two were recorded 2020, three in 2021 and 2022 and no records of black grouse for 2024. 

There used to be huge numbers of black grouse in the area and we are hopeful that more will be attracted by our management of the site to create a mosaic of habitats. We have increased biodiversity by clearing areas of the forestry plantation and adding more native woodland. The food chain and conditions are better for black grouse now there is less sheep and deer browsing.