Surveying for bugs at Fallin Bing!

If you have taken a walk on Fallin Bing in the last few months you may have seen someone armed with a net running around chasing after insects.  Well that person was me!  I am Niall Currie a TCV Natural Talent Apprentice with Buglife.  I have been carrying out invertebrate surveys on brownfield sites around Stirling and Alloa including Fallin Bing.  When I first saw the Bing last winter it was hard to believe that it would become the colourful, flower rich place that photos of the previous summer suggested.  Although spring remained cold for longer than expected, the transition from a bare and dead landscape to one flourishing with wildflowers and buzzing with insects has certainly taken place. 

Niall surveying the bing for invertebrates

Insects are very useful creatures to survey because as well as being fascinating in their own right they are very sensitive to environmental conditions and can tell you a lot about a place.  The information I collect from these surveys will be used to decide how the site should be managed in the future. 

A Common carder bee feeding on a Red clover at Fallin Bing

Fallin Bing is a great haven for wildlife, especially invertebrates because it has a mixture of different types of vegetation as well as some nice bare patches, which help cold-blooded invertebrates warm up.  The south side of the slope is especially good for this.  There is also a diversity of wildflowers at the Bing which provide many bugs with food and homes or places to hunt.  Invertebrates have so many different ways of life so to survey a good range I have had to employ lots of different methods to find them.  This has included crawling around searching for them by hand to sweeping the vegetation with a thick net and using a thin meshed net to catch flying insects.

Read more next week about some of the interesting bugs I have found!

Paul Gunn shares his thoughts about working at Fallin

Hello, I’m Paul Gunn the TCV Natural Communities trainee working with Buglife. I have been out and about in Fallin this year, talking to members of the community and collecting their stories of Fallin and the former coal mines. The Bing which is the spoil from the coal mine is integral to the history of the village and is now an important brownfield site for wildlife.

The Bing is rich in diversity and is visited by a variety of bees, butterflies, moths and other invertebrates; most notably the hundreds of 6-spot Burnet moths that have been seen at the Bing this summer. But as well as it’s ecological importance within the area, the top of Fallin Bing has some fantastic views of the surrounding villages, Stirling castle, the Wallace monument and the Ochil Hills.

Common blue butterfly are found at the Bing, several were seen this year.

 

We have been out on site leading activities to help enhance the Bing including the wildflower panting and scrub removal documented in previous blogs. As well as this practical work, we would love to hear your stories of the Bing, Fallin itself and your hopes for this site in the future as it takes further steps in its transformation from ‘Coalfield to Brownfield’.

Last Month I interviewed a former miner from the Polmaise Mine, Jock, who told me all about his experiences, from growing up in Fallin’s early years to work as a collier. The dangers they faced on a daily basis and the changes he has seen in his time. Hearing about Fallin’s fascinating past was great but It would also be great to hear what the Bing means to people now, with the mining industry now gone from Fallin and a new generation growing up with wildflower rich grasslands on their doorstep.

The Ochil Hills as seen from the top of Fallin Bing (c) Paul Gunn

 

Come along to our next activity day on Tuesday 1^st October from 10am to 3pm. We will be taking out some more scrub and building bee banks. Feel free to come along and pitch in, or just pop by and share a story of what Fallin Bing means to you. Whilst you’re there, indulge yourself with the fantastic views from the top of the Bing.

Paul Gunn filming at the Coal Mining Museum at Fallin.

If you can’t make an event day and you see me meandering around the bing (much like the above picture), feel free to say hello and share a story or email your story to paul.gunn@buglife.org.uk with the subject ‘Fallin Bing’.

Stirling Councils Great Outdoors Festival

Buglife are running a bug walk at Fallin Bing on the 3^rd of September as part of Stirling Council’s Great Outdoors Festival. We will be meeting at the car park at the mining museum off Stirling Road (A905) at FK7 7JH at 11am and the walk will finish about 1pm. We will take a walk around the bing and up to the top to look for bugs and you will learn about why the bing is important for wildlife. For more information about what’s on during Stirling Councils Great Outdoors Festival check out Stirling Council’s website: http://www.stirling.gov.uk/

The sign at the entrance to Fallin Bing

We have also confirmed the fourth visit to Fallin through the All Our Stories Project as Tuesday the 1^st of October. We will be creating banks for bees and other invertebrates as well as removing birch scrub from the pathways around the bing. We will be meeting at the mining museum car park at 10am and the day finishes at about 3pm, refreshments will also be provided. Everyone is welcome to attend to lend a hand and also to share there stories of Fallin and the local area!

For more information about the events and to book a place on the bug walk please contact Suzanne Bairner at Suzanne.bairner@buglife.org.uk and 01786 447504.