Christmas Tree Event

By Kajedo Wanderer | Published: 04/12/2022

Posted in News

Chair’s Roundup – September to November 2022

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 04/12/2022

The FHT has been active once again in various ways this season both on the land and within our community.  

Tools and considerable volunteer time has been spent helping with the site preparations for the new sanctuary rebuild – thank you to all those that took part in joining with other Park Ecovillage Findhorn community members to undertake the different tasks and for the FHT trustees to back getting involved in this community building exercise.  Trustee Alan Watson Featherstone took a lead in helping create a full–scale model using trees from Wilkies Wood and rope to give a good impression of the location and dimensions of the new building.  Others helped to dismantle and remove all the insulation and plasterboard of the kitchen office on the site – the FHT will recycle the building shell as a pony shelter in the fields up near the wind turbines.  There was also Alberto’s office, a smaller structure on site that seemed too good to destroy but had some rot in the lower base plate and would have needed a new foundation and floor structure.  FHT long term volunteer George Paul and I wrestled with what could be done with it and then had the brainwave that we could cut the bottom 20cm of studs off and see if Green Leaf could use their new machine to lift it up onto the robust and insulated trailer base that we had prepared for our long awaited Shepherds Hut.  Within hours we had the windowed, roofed, insulated and clad structure up on wheels next to the Conservation ready to be internally refitted with woodstove, bed, storage etc over the coming winter months. It was a fun and imaginative project to be involved in and it seemed like a miracle that the office was almost exactly the same size as the base that we had previously prepared! 

The FHT was also involved in various ways with the 60th Community Birthday Celebration Week.  On the 17th November, the actual birthday, our Land Manager Kajedo Wanderer did a splendid job organising the 25 or so participants that took part in a ceremonial tree planting of 60 trees around our pond area.  Those involved included my young nephew who was a tree-planting virgin along with two others in that category.  (See the article by Travis Caddy elsewhere.)   The trees that were used were provided by the Woodland Trust and the FHT secured a small £250 Action Earth grant from Volunteering Matters to buy guards and stakes for these and other tree work later in the season.  Kajedo also led a couple of tours around the land for participants with some very positive feedback.

The new green burial team have been active with two burials of people close to the community this season – long-term member and associate Brian Nobbs and Laura Sheeren’s father Derek Gobbett.  The team of four, Laura, Juanna, Kajedo and Jamie, meet twice a year with advisors and at the October meeting Judith Berry stepped down from this role after over fifteen years service helping to guide this vital and well thought of part of the FHT – thank you Judith for all you have contributed to make this a thriving and well structured part of our work.  Will Russell will still be involved in selling lairs but feels that he has passed on enough to not need to attend the regular meetings.  Well done Will in successfully setting up and nurturing a structure that makes this part of the charity robust and sustainable well into the future.

Following on from the success of making the green burial part of the FHT resilient and sustainable, the trustees have also been looking at how the whole FHT organisational structure can be truly sustainable so that work with local people and in the woodland and with other ecosystems can carry on for the foreseeable future and beyond.  One of the main challenges is that if I am no longer supporting and being the safety net for the organisation how is its work to effectively continue?  For this reason I plan to step down as Chair in three years time which will give time to look at what roles I do are essential to the functioning of the organisation and looking to make this into a paid Operations Manager position.  To do that we will need to look at how the FHT can financially sustain itself well into the future – watch this space.

The trustees have great pleasure in welcoming David Hammond on board as our new Treasurer.  Many thanks go to Christopher Raymont who offered to temporarily hold that role over the past months – he will carry on as our bookkeeper and with David, Jacqueline Buckingham (another ex FHT treasurer) and myself will form a strong financial subgroup team that hopefully can help bring about the changes needed in the organisational and financial structures.  Other changes in personnel include Paulo Bessa stepping down as our fundraising trustee – thank you for all you have given Paulo – and  Vivienne Wylde with her ecological background will be joining our team with her exact role still to be determined.     

 A couple of other happenings need mentioning.  The first is the Biodiversity Exhibition that was supposed to take place in October but for various reasons had to be postponed until the 2nd December.  This social gathering that involved Alan Watson Featherstone delivering  a talk with slides to celebrate the incredible diversity on the land we care for was well attended and much appreciated by the 50+ people who attended.  Do have a look at Alan’s beautiful and inspirational  photos that are displayed in the Phoenix Café and will also be in the upper foyer of the Universal Hall from the 22nd December if you missed the event. Another is to say thank you and farewell for just now to the young Spanish lady Irene Canalis who was involved in a trial Land Manager apprenticeship programme this year.  From late March until October she lived in a FHT bell tent with a wood stove and took part in regular activities, which she reflected on and learnt from with the help of a small mentoring team.  The experience was both beneficial for her and also for the FHT who wish to develop an apprenticeship programme to ultimately help train people up that might eventually succeed our present land manager. 

Blessings and appreciations to all,

Jonathan Caddy

FHT Chair   

Posted in News

The Woodland Garden in a Nutshell

By Draeyk van der Horn | Published: 28/09/2022

The summer of love in the Woodland garden has been a joy and now the harvest is upon us. So it is a good time to look at our annual wonders, from giant heirloom tomatoes (from our wonderful new greenhouse) to squash, courgette, beans and peas, artichokes and corn. The wilder chards and kales, skirrit and yams have all worked their way into the fruit bushes and trees. The first “woodland potato bed”, just outside the garden gate, was a star performer! 

The pond is looking healthy and recently we cut back the reeds to leave a bit more open water and allow for more diverse planting. So we welcome some bullrushes, yellow iris and water lilies. I think we had an agreement from our feathered friends when a black bird landed on my shoulder a couple of weeks ago whilst working on the pond. 

The wild strawberries did well, so too the redcurrants, the plum, apple and pear trees. Though the cherry trees are doing less well and we may lose one this year, they have a relatively short life span so it’s not unexpected. 

Many new herbs and exotic plants made an appearance this year, the chameleon plant (fish herb) and the Bucks-horn plantain to name but two.

We also had the glorious display of wildflowers in our new flower meadow. A mass of golden marigolds, cornflower and poppy. 

There is a small and very special patch being tended by one individual, a Woad garden plot. This is part of a wider goal of opening up and looking at our relationship to plants. 

We have seen many visitors and hosted a permaculture afternoon, Speyside school visited us and numerous meetings occurred in the Outdoor Learning Space (OLS), some bush-craft work and it is heartening to see people regularly coming to proactive meditation, to bird watch or to read a book. On the table in the OLS, you will also see the book of the Garden, a collection of stories visitors add to. We are also doing a lollipop survey of what the word “harvest” means to you.

We also now have an inviting outdoor fireplace, where we cook up a harvest tea, using leaves and fruits in the garden (including a newly discovered tea bush) to share with visitors. 

As ever we have much to do, we are working on a retainer wall near the pond, keeping paths clear and the fence with the info boards is about to collapse! So helping hands are needed. 

But for now, let us now enjoy the harvest and prepare for longer nights.



Draeyk van der Horn

FHT Woodland Gardener
Green Moray Councillor  

Posted in News

FHT Summer Celebration – A Big Thank you to All That Made it Possible

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 28/09/2022

So many people have come up to me to say how much they enjoyed this event that took place in the Green Burial space in Wilkies Wood on the 18th of June.  For some it was the ceilidh dancing under the marquee, which was the first bigger event like this for over two years.  For others it was listening to the Scottish music and the other contributions of music and dance that took place throughout the evening.  For yet others it was simply to be there to enjoy some food and drink and be sociable with each other in this beautiful outdoor setting.  Most of all, many liked simply to be able to gather again, play, relax and have fun together.  These things are essential in a happy, smoothly functioning community.

Thanks are due to the many that made this evening possible.  First of all let’s thank the Weather Gods – the forecast was for winds over 40 miles/ hour and rain later but the evening turned out cool but tolerable.  Next, a huge thank you to Chris Stepien and his four piece band that came from far and wide and played great music despite their hands freezing in the wind – next time woolly hats and gloves would be in order for a mid-summer event in Scotland!   Also thanks to all the other contributors of music and song; David Hammond, Carolin, Paddy, Steve Jewels, Hugh Andrews and… To Mohini who did a great job putting together strawberry shortcake for the 150 or so people who were there.  To the crew who erected the tents and particularly Katherina and Hans who helped put together the band staging lent by Jason Caddy.  Then there was George Paul who helped put up the fencing windbreak around the staging to keep the wind off the musicians, Kajedo our Land Manager who mowed the grass and heather plus clipped back tiny gorse plants with his secateurs to make a dance surface and started the fire on the day, Brian Johnstone who lent us his generator to power the music, Christine Lines and Will Russell who where there till 2am to help tidy up after the event, everyone for contributing some food and drink and …  There are many more too who I will have missed.  What I am trying to say is that it takes a whole community to put on a community event and I want to bless and recognise that sense of community that we have and consciously celebrate it.

I think it is also important to acknowledge that we have certain structures and organisations within our community that help build that important feeling of doing things together.  In particular there is the Phoenix Community Shop, which is a Community Interest Company.  A number of years ago it bought the marquees and tables we were using to promote community events as part of using profits to plough back into community development.  Then there is the Findhorn Hinterland Trust itself that has built up the facilities over the years to help with one of its purposes which is building a sense of local community – the open space in the middle of the woods which is the green burial ground, the beautiful gathering space that is the Woodland Shelter and now two compost loos.  

We have so much.  This is a time to recognise this, give thanks and hopefully find future ways we can come together, play and enjoy each other.

Blessings,

Jonathan Caddy

FHT Chair    

 

 

Posted in News

News from the Land – Summer 2022

By Kajedo Wanderer | Published: 28/09/2022

As I write this the North-wind has brought a chill in the air and even though the trees are largely still green, it surely feels like the turning of seasons – the beginning of autumn. I am still hoping for a bit of ‘indian summer’, but I have packed the shorts away and am wearing layers again.

All photos in this article were taken by Mark Richards during one of the monthly tours Kajedo leads around the land in the summer.

It’s been a good summer – here, for us. Plenty of sunshine, though not the heat those south of us had experienced, and enough rain so that we only needed to water the trees on the Green Burial Ground and in the New Memorial Wood twice.

Our little trees have grown well, we have used more than 100 tree-stakes and tubes  between May and now – mostly for little trees which had outgrown their wee spiral tubes. ‘Tree-care’ certainly took up quite a bit of this summer’s work, but we’ve also done a lot (!) of gorse cutting. Keeping all paths between the Park and the (Findhorn-) village and the sea open, cutting gorse back on species rich grassland and on firebreaks are essential, routine jobs every year. Jonathan and George had finished our second compost toilet – the ‘new loo’ – in anticipation of all the groups using the shelter area.

Photo by Mark Richards 

Sadly most of our planned retreats did not happen due to lack of bookings. We’ll have to do some good thinking about that in preparation for next year. The exception was Jennie Martin’s ‘plant retreat’. We opened her day to local participants and judging by the feedback it was quite successful.

Photo by Mark Richards 

We did however have quite a few biggish groups on the land – The Chivas Regal volunteer day, the Forres Academy students and not to forget – the main celebration this year – the Summer Celebration which incorporated Jonathan’s 66’th birthday bash.  And there have been other birthday celebrations , baby blessings, wakes after funerals, workshops etc.  at the shelter space.

Photo by Mark Richards

We also had a vision quest group booking our sites, there has been a steady trickle of ‘wild campers’ on our pads, and we’ve had regular Wednesday morning volunteer days – besides the usual once-a-month Saturday morning ‘work-parties’.

We’ve put up a bell-tent to house our lovely committed volunteer Irene – as a way of exploring ‘succession’ – bringing in younger people to ‘apprentice’ with us. The next step in that direction is our planned wee ‘shepherd’s hut’ – a simple, mobile, heatable wooden structure which could house a volunteer year-round.

It’s been a good summer, and I hope many of you had the opportunity to walk the land and witness its many-faceted beauty.

I’ll finish with extracts from a poem by R. Tagore :

‘I ask for a moment’s indulgence to sit by Thy side.

The works that i have in hand

I will finish afterwards…

…

Now it is time to sit quiet

Face to face with Thee,

And to sing dedication to life

In this silent and overflowing leisure. ‘

 

Many blessings,

Kajedo 

FHT Land Manager

Photo by Mark Richards

Photo by Mark Richards

Posted in News

Findhorn Apiary News and Bottling Liquid Gold

By Martin Harker | Published: 28/09/2022

A busy season concluded with the annual honey harvest in early September. This is later than for many apiaries, but we are fortunate to have heather blooming on the dunes in August and the bees are able to gather a lovely harvest of nectar. This mixes with the summer nectar to produce a delicious honey. The harvest was around 75 pounds of honey. To produce one pound of honey, bees have to fly the equivalent of twice round the world. They are truly busy bees.

Honey Extraction Day.  This day began with collecting the frames full of honey from the hives, about 50 frames, and taking them to The Hub. We had to carefully ensure that no bees were left on the frames. Otherwise, they would fly back from The Hub and tell the other bees where all their honey had goEe and they would come and try to gather it.

To extract the honey, we first have to cut off the cappings over the cells of honeycomb. The frames are then put in the extractor and vigorously spun. Our new extractor, generously fundraised and donated by Robert Holden, worked well and it is a joy to see the beautiful honey flow from the tap. The honey is then sieved to remove loose bits of wax and other miscellaneous bits, ready for bottling. There is no other processing; pure natural honey.  It was great to be able to use the space and facilities provided by the new Conservation Hub this year and thus avoid getting John Willoner’s kitchen thoroughly sticky as in previous years!

Bee Work Party.  One Saturday morning in July we had a work  party at The Hub. About 15 folk came to help, cleaning old frames, assembling new frames and fitting wax foundation. It was a lovely time of sharing, relaxation, and learning about bees. Everyone had the opportunity of suiting up and going to see a hive in action, in David Harrison’s garden, just across the road from The Hub. The hive was there because a swarm had settled in David’s compost bin, the previous month. We had removed the bees from the bin and put them in a hive next to it. We had placed drawn comb in the hive, so the queen was immediately able to start laying and the colony is steadily growing. We are feeding the bees with sugar syrup so hopefully the colony will be strong enough to survive the winter.

We are always happy to have volunteers to share beekeeping with us, so if you are interested in learning more, please contact Jonathan Caddy,  [email protected]  If you would like to purchase honey or beeswax, please contact John Willoner on 01309690064.

A selection of photographs from both the work party event and the honey extraction one follow to help inspire your interest and participation.  There is also a short article from Mohini, one of the volunteers who helped with the honey harvest.

Martin Harker

Part of the core FHT Bee Management Team 

(Martin Harker, John Willoner and Jonathan Caddy).

Bottling Liquid Gold

An impromptu happening on my part last Monday morning…Sylvia Black called me to see if I had any wholesome delights leftover from the farmer’s market, to offer to those extracting/bottling honey for their tea break…To her delight I did indeed have a wonderful selection of goodies.


I arrived at the Hub in Pineridge to the heady scent of honey in varying stages of extraction (the new hand centrifugal processor), scraping the ‘cappings’ to give back to the bees as a thank you, and the bottling.  I got a great fast lesson in Martin’s precise measuring of honey from the big white bucket through the tap; into the archetypal hexagonal glass jars, waiting for not 1 but 2 drips before bringing the next jar under the tap to collect this liquid gold! He reminded me that a bee will make a 12th of a teaspoon of honey in its entire life!  I’m stunned and bow in reverence to these buzzing beings that work tirelessly both in their hive and out amongst the multitude of flowers for the collective good of the whole community.

It’s ignited a spark of intrigue and gratitude to those that are beekeepers throughout our globe across eons of time…and yet to be a beekeeper, I noticed there’s a distinct timelessness about the work involved, perhaps mirroring that of the bees – each helper had his/her work station and diligently went about their task at hand.

I shall return to learn and much much more.  Thank you!

Blessings

Mohini

Inspired FHT Volunteer and Member

 

 

Posted in News

Forest Bathing Course Success

By Christine Lines | Published: 28/09/2022

2nd – 4th June 2022

The Findhorn Hinterland Trust, Nature and Therapy UK and the Findhorn Foundation worked cooperatively to make this training course happen using the FHT Woodland Shelter and woods, FF accommodation at the Park, the Cluny woods and the expertise provided by Stefan Batorijs and assistant.  

Earlier in his life, Stefan had been inspired by the nature connection he read about that happened at Findhorn and went on to explore and be trained in Shinrin Yoku, an evidence based Japanese approach to encouraging people to engage with the natural world, particularly trees, to gain the clinically verified physical and immunological benefits of contact with nature. He presently works out of Devon where in 2017 he founded Nature and Therapy UK – a response to what he saw as a growing need for spiritual and psychological connection to Nature and education about how we can learn to respect and include Nature in our lives.  He was very keen to visit Findhorn and run a course in Scotland.

The International Forest Therapy Guide Diploma and Shinrin Yoku Practitioner Training Course held here in early June was a great success with fine weather, eight keen participants and some pleasing feedback.  We hope that this will become an annual event and give an opportunity for some of you living locally to benefit from what Stefan has developed and can offer.  More information can be found at www.natureandtherapy.co.uk

Here is feedback from a couple of the participants: 

As soon as I came across the forest bathing course offered by Nature & Therapy I knew it was something that would deeply resonate with me. At the time the course was only being offered in England. I am so grateful that I waited for the first one to take place in Scotland. As soon as it was announced that it would be held at Findhorn I knew I had to attend. I had been to Findhorn once before to celebrate my 38th birthday and it left an imprint of deep awe and reverence.

The course itself, as well as the location, fostered the most beautiful and symbiotic relationship as the backdrop for our study. Stefan and Ruth were absolutely wonderful facilitators. Every lesson was awe inspiring and served as an invitation to deepen our own knowledge of forest bathing and forged a deep desire to share it with more people. Joern, who has lived in Findhorn for 25 years, was the most welcoming, warm, kind, and generous guide. He made the entire time at Findhorn an absolute joy of an experience. 

My time at Findhorn during the forest bathing course is one of those sacred moments that has changed and continues to change me in ways both great and small. My gratitude for the course, the facilities offered by the Findhorn Hinterland Trust and the Findhorn Community is life long. I look forward to sharing the wisdom of the forests and the power of community.

With deep gratitude,

Sarah-Alexandra Teodorescu

Three days wandering the forests of Findhorn was nothing short of transformational. Of course, the history of the Foundation makes it a conducive environment for self-study, but the spirit of the land brings the practice of forest bathing to life. Our hosts from the Foundation generously offered their time and energy to accommodate our small group. I was touched by everyone’s willingness to share their stories and fond memories of this small slice of heaven. Words cannot express the preciousness of my own memories of Findhorn, and I’m counting the days until my return!

Daillen Culver

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in News

Meet the FHT Team Member – An interview with Jonathan Caddy, FHT Chair

By Christine Lines | Published: 28/09/2022

When did you become inspired by Nature?  

Six of us living in the original caravan here at the Park, Findhorn, from age 6 to 13 years old for me, meant that most of our time as boys was spent outside especially on the land – exploring the bay, playing in the next door farmer’s barley field but especially in Mr Wilkies newly planted woods and the dunes which had a big sign saying ‘Private Property Keep Out’ on it!  I was not a confident boy as I had terribly squint eyes but I watched carefully what was going on around me and was inspired by the incredible beauty of all the natural life and forms that I encountered in these ‘wild’ places and also in the lush, bountiful and now famous garden that grew up around our home. That inspiration, beauty and connection continues to be a driving force in my life.

Tell us about an unusual or important encounter with wildlife on FHT land?

There are many but one that stands out is a time I was walking my dog in the early morning along one of the back paths in Wilkies Wood.  It was only half-light and my collie, Bess, suddenly came running towards me.  I realised she was chasing an animal and before I knew it a full sized hare jumped up into my arms!  I had never seen this beautiful animal so close and the surprise and unusual nature of this encounter sticks out in my memory. 

What is your present role within the FHT team and what does this involve?

In 2006 I was the catalyst that helped establish the Findhorn Hinterland Group, the community group that was a precursor of the present organisation, and since the FHT was founded as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) back in 2015, I have had the role as Chair of Trustees.  

My role is to help set the tone and direction of the organisation but the reality has been that I am also the safety net that makes sure that anything that looks like it might be missed or dropped by the great team we now have supporting the organisation, is picked up and dealt with.   This makes it a very varied and demanding position; leading trustee and AGM meetings; regular involvement in all the different FHT subgroup meetings such as land management, finance, green burial, membership and bees; representing the FHT on community wide issues as part of the Collaboration Circle and the Development Committee (DevCom); helping to compile and organise the newsletter, website and publicity about events; holding some of the monthly work parties and a thousand and one other things! 

I like the variety and how it engages so many of the skills I have developed over the years.

What important qualities from your life experience do you bring to this role?

My love of the land and living things inspired by my early life makes me passionate about working with the land that surrounds our community and it gives me tremendous joy to be able to give something back at this time of my life.  My degree in Ecological Science from Edinburgh University gave me a great theoretical background as to how to understand and look after land but what I call my three years practical working as one of the founders of the small rural community on the Isle of Erraid back in 1979 was even more important as it gave me so many hands on skills.  These practical and managerial skills were further developed as I worked as manager of a woodland management charity near Aberdeen, a director of a timber harvesting and processing company outside Edinburgh, developed a native plant nursery for a large landscape company in Ontario Canada and other work experience from my varied and interesting career.  But it is my love of people and learning that led me into a 30 year teaching career and it’s these people and educational skills that I have found vital in my present role as part of the fascinating, sometimes challenging and complex community I live in.   

What are your dreams for the FHT’s future?

I strongly believe in the FHT vision statement of a world with nature at the heart of every community and I would like to see our community able to practically demonstrate this now and into the future.  For this to happen I wish to leave a sustainable and resilient organisation which helps people wake up and fully value the incredible beauty of the ‘wild’ land and its creatures on our doorstep.  Ideally this new structure would involve finding a way that a large majority of the local community is aware of, fully enjoys and ultimately  contributes towards looking after this common resource either financially or through voluntary work.  My task right now is to find a way that I can step down at a future date and for all the good work to carry on as effortlessly and gracefully as possible bringing joy and an enhanced quality of life to the many.  

Interviewed by 

Christine Lines

FHT Webmaster

Posted in News

FHT Biodiversity – Summer Discoveries

By Alan Watson Featherstone | Published: 28/09/2022

With the warmer than normal summer weather we’ve had here at Findhorn this year, it has been an unusual and different season for biodiversity, and especially insects, on the Hinterland area. For example, one of my main insect groups of interest – aphids – have been conspicuous largely by their absence. Only a few of the most common and abundant species have been visible, and it’s likely that for many aphid species the relatively dry summer that we’ve had has limited the opportunities for their populations to get established.

Other groups appear to have done much better. For example, there’s been a lot of shieldbugs in evidence, especially on the group of large birch trees near the central wind turbine, where large numbers of both red-legged shieldbugs (Pentatoma rufipes) and birch shieldbugs (Elasmostethus interstinctus) have reproduced successfully. These brightly-coloured bugs go through several developmental stages of growth, in which they are known as nymphs, before pupating into their adult forms.

On the 1st of August I came across some unusual wasps on the underside of the leaves of a whitebeam tree (Sorbus aria) in the ‘Fallen Acres’ area of the Findhorn Hinterland. This is the part of the land where a storm blew down all the conifers about 20 years ago, and there was subsequent abundant natural regeneration of native trees such as birch, complemented by the planting of some other broadleaves, including whitebeams and oaks (Quercus robur). These wasps caught my eye as I hadn’t seen any like them before. At just under 1cm. in body length they each had a classic ‘wasp waist’ and a distinctively-shaped abdomen, and there were quite a few of them grouped together on some of the leaves.

Female parasitoid wasps (Cinetus iridipennis) (Diapriidae) on the underside of an oak leaf on the Findhorn Hinterland on 23rd August 2022.

In the following weeks I monitored them closely, and soon found that there were much larger numbers of them on the undersides of the leaves of some nearby young oaks, where they were gathered together in large, dense clusters. I posted photographs of them on Twitter, tagging a wasp specialist who has helped me with identifications before. He said they were wasps in the family Diapriidae (which he isn’t able to identify – there are over 7,000 wasp species in the UK!) but he referred me on to David Notton, whom he thought may be able to help. I sent David some specimens and he identified them as a parasitoid species of wasp called Cinetus iridipennis (there is no common name for the species). Interestingly enough, the wasps were all females, and he thought they may be roosting en masse under the leaves to take advantage of the greater humidity immediately under the leaves, to prevent themselves from drying out. A similar behaviour has been noted before in Germany for a closely-related species, Cinetus cameroni. There were no wasps on the undersides of the leaves of birch and rowan trees nearby, indicating that the size of the leaf they were sheltering under was important.

Close-up of one of the female parasitoid wasps (Cinetus iridipennis) (Diapriidae) on the underside of an oak leaf (Quercus robur) on 19th August 2022.

Checking the NBN Atlas for Cinetus iridipennis revealed that there are only 16 records for this species in the UK, and just one in Scotland, from a site at the head of the Beauly Firth, just east of Inverness. According to David Notton this species is actually relatively common, but is significantly under-recorded, possibly because there are so few people who can identify a wasp like this. As a parasitoid species, the female injects her eggs into the larvae of other insects (in this case a member of the Diptera, or two-winged flies), and as each wasp larva develops it kills the host insect it is growing inside. When I asked about the fact they were all females, David replied that many species of Hymenoptera (as wasps are known in scientific terms) have different flight times for male and females, and that the females can persist for a long period after they have been impregnated by the males. 

Female parasitoid wasps (Cinetus iridipennis) (Diapriidae) clustered densely together on the underside of the leaves of an oak tree (Quercus robur) on the Findhorn Hinterland on 10th August 2022.

I checked the trees where I found them quite regularly in the following weeks and although the numbers visible there reduced significantly, there were still some to be seen in mid-September, about 6 weeks after I’d first spotted them. I wasn’t able to find out what species they were parasitising so that’s still a mystery. Another unknown is the reason why there were such large numbers of them clustered so closely together on the oak leaves. It’s all part of the mystery and wonder of Nature, and we hope that through our ongoing work on the Hinterland we’ll be able, over time, to document and understand the reasons for phenomena like this.

Alan Watson Featherstone, 

FHT Trustee & Chair of the Land Management subgroup.

Posted in News

Hinterland Work Parties – The Joy of Discovery

By Christine Lines | Published: 28/09/2022

 28th May 2022

A party of about 15 volunteers met to spend the morning taking care of the dune habitat. In particular, we were concerned with preserving the lichen population by clearing mainly non-native Lodgepole pine trees. 

It was great to have Heather Paul with us to help us to look closer at the different species of Lichen that make their home on the dunes. She provided us with eye scopes so we could get up close; the markings and fruiting bodies were so beautiful to see this close up and Heather added knowledge of their life cycles along with other interesting facts to make this a truly inspirational morning. 

This Lichen can be found on the dunes and is a variety of Cladonia.

Alongside close up work with the lichens we enjoyed finding out more about the general habitat, with lots of interesting facts provided by members of the Hinterland Trust, which really enhanced how much we noticed and saw on the site as well as increasing our general understanding of the importance of maintaining the habitat. Unfortunately, some of the trees did have to come out to maintain the balance in the environment to allow us to continue to enjoy the beautiful dunes as we know them.

Tea break was also a highlight with Jonathan having made sure we had lots of varieties of tea (including using teapots for a proper brew) as well as cake and biscuits and all this out in the dunes!!

It was a fantastic morning with good company and connection, beautiful scenery and wonderful learning; it was truly nourishing for the soul. 

Jane Brannan was also one of the volunteers on the day and here is a poem by her as well as some thoughts from the day:

Algy met Fungy one day

Algy and Fungy made friends

Forever friends you could say

Were they codependent?

Yes in a strange kind of way!

But yet something altogether different:

Yes an intimate association

Yes, and much co-ordination

And incredible co-operation

Look closer and you will see

One is living off the other

Both live in total harmony but

Neither will ever be free.

Jane also put together some key words from the day along with the help of Anna, Asa and Izzy who were all volunteers on the day:

Meeting new people, deepening connections, community, service, joy, inspiration, beauty, being close to nature, being outdoors, Love in Action, gratitude, tea and cake, Lodgepole Pines, Scots Pines, loving the shapes of lichen and fungi, looking closely, the other world of lichens, learning, eye lenses, discoveries, sharing excitement. 

Asa found a potential new species of a fungus growing on a lichen which Heather will go on to examine under a microscope.

Louise Barnett – volunteer and new FHT member. 

 

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Findhorn Hinterland Trust, Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) SC045806
228 Pineridge, Findhorn, Forres, Moray IV36 3TB