Field Notes: Summer on the Ben

Nevis Conservation Officer Julia Robertson reports on the summertime tasks and training required to look after the land in our care on Britain’s highest mountain - Ben Nevis.

Last month I headed up the Ben to scout out the main hotspot areas for future path maintenance work, which I hope to do with volunteers soon. It was lovely to hear the snow bunting signing among a cacophony of human sounds.

I was slightly disheartened by the amount of rubbish on the summit – I carried down 10kg. A few kind people asked for bags so they could also bring stuff down. Every little helps.

There's an amazing variety of plant life growing close to the tourist path, which emphasises the need to keep on top of path work and repairs. I spotted starry saxifrage - an Arctic Alpine species that thrives in wet acidic habitats and adapted to harsh high altitude conditions - and parsley fern, a species that's characteristic of the high-altitude siliceous scree slopes on the Ben that are part of the Ben Nevis Special Area of Conservation.

Keeping paths in good condition is crucial for stopping desire lines forming and people diverting off the path, which has a detrimental impact on sensitive plant and bryophyte populations.

Dragonfly training at Corrour

It’s important to visit other sites and see the different approaches to habitat restoration. What works for one place might not for another, but many things can be learned by observing the different stages of nature in recovery.

This summer I spent three days training with the British Dragonfly Society's team at Corrour Estate - one of the Society's Dragonflies on the Bog project restoration sites in the north-west Highlands.

The project aims to restore peatland biodiversity and improve population connectivity for rare peatland dragonflies. This is mainly achieved by rewetting the peatland habitat through blocking drainage features to raise the water table and pond creation and restoration (creating runnels and deeper, more robust ponds).

It’s amazing to see the positive impact this project is having at Corrour: 129 pools, 138 peat dams, 68 drought resistant sumps have been added since 2023 and the larvae and dragonfly records reflect this. It’s hard to get your eye in to identifying the different larvae but this takes time and it will be put to good use at our peatland site at Nevis.

^ Alongside a black darter dragonfly that had just hatched from its exuvia and azure hawker larvae, I spotted oblonged-leaved sundew, lots of dwarf birch and an array of sphagnum colours - including sphagnum cuspidatum, a common bog pool species often known as ‘soggy kitten’.