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| © Paul Raeburn |
"Aucheninnes Moss devastation sealed” was the headline in Buglife’s Action update confirming that invertebrate conservationists were appalled when on 13 March 2003 Margaret Curren, the Scottish Minister for Social Justice, announced that the Scottish Parliament would allow the granting of planning permission for a landfill site that will wreck Aucheninnes Moss in Dumfries and Galloway.
Aucheninnes Moss is a classic peat bog with wet heath areas, and the last remaining relict of the once extensive Barclosh Moss Complex. Various developments and afforestation have destroyed the other bogs in the area, leaving Aucheninnes as a last refuge for threatened plants and invertebrates. The bog's primary biodiversity importance comes from the invertebrate fauna, which includes the following gems:-
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| © Paul Raeburn |
Bog bush cricket Metrioptera brachyptera
Nationally scarce, LBAP Priority Species.
While frequently encountered on southern heaths and bogs, this is a rarity in Northern England, and Aucheninnes is its only site in Scotland.
Large heath Coenonympha tullia
WCA listed, SPEC3, BAP species of Conservation Concern.
Protected under Wildlife and Countryside Act, listed as vulnerable in Europe in the Red Data Book of European Butterflies (SPEC3).
Sorrel pigmy moth Enteucha acetosae
Nationally Scarce
Aucheninnes Moss is its only site in Scotland.
Small pearl-bordered fritillary Boloria selene
BAP species of Conservation Concern
The site has probably got many more important invertebrate inhabitants, but in 2002 Dumfries & Galloway Council did not permit local entomologists to visit the site. When we tried again in September 2003 the council, although initially receptive, withdrew support at the eleventh hour, perhaps due to concerns that the wildlife experts would find more important wildlife that would strengthen the case for protecting the site from destruction.
On the 7th September 2003 Buglife, along with over 40 local residents and national invertebrate experts, converged on Aucheninnes Moss in Dumfries and Galloway to record for posterity the biological riches of the bog before its destruction and to express their disgust at plans to turn the wildlife site into a landfill site.
The day of direct action garnered excellent coverage for the site, including a big article in the Herald (see text below), Border TV News, Galloway News and the BBC News website. The survey efforts refound whorled caraway, the first record for many years, and hopefully there are some more interesting discoveries in the pipeline. We wish to thank all who supported the event and especially those who attended.
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| Protesting at the threatened site © Paul Raeburn |
THE HERALD
Villagers in fight to save bog insects:
Protests over plan for waste tip at home of rare cricket, writes JAMES
FREEMAN
LOCAL protesters and a number of scientists yesterday defied a legal
threat by a council in a last-ditch attempt to save a raised bog rich in
insect life from becoming a rubbish landfill.
If Aucheninnes Moss, close to the Solway village of Dalbeattie, becomes
Dumfries and Galloway Council's waste tip, say the protesters, it will
cause a wave of local extinctions.
The 30 locals, supported by professional entomologists, catalogued the
endangered species, in front of TV cameras, in the hope that by raising
awareness the council can be persuaded to change their plans.
A council spokesman said the landfill plan had been approved "subject to
the development meeting appropriate environmental considerations".
As the council had an interest in promoting the landfill, its planning
decision was referred to the Scottish Executive which supported the
planning permission.
Matt Shardlow of Buglife, the national insect charity, which helped
organise the Aucheninnes recording day, said he had received a lawyer's
letter from the council on Friday forbidding access to the site.
He said this was "perhaps due to concerns that the scientists would find
more important wildlife that would strengthen the case for protecting the
site from destruction".
The bog is the last Scottish stronghold of the bog bush cricket or
Metrioptera brachyptera and the Sorrel pigmy moth or Enteucha acetosae.
Thirty one percent of Scotland's grasshopper and cricket species already
have become extinct in the last 100 years and the loss of the Bog bush
cricket would add to the list.
Coenonympha tullia, the Large heath butterfly, subject to a biodiversity
action plan and of conservation concern, is also present. Protected under Wildlife and Countryside Act, it is listed as vulnerable in Europe in the Red Data Book of European Butterflies. The Sorrel pigmy moth is listed as nationally scarce and Aucheninnes Moss is its only site in Scotland. The small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly, Boloria selene, also a biodiversity action plan species of conservation concern has been recorded.
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| © Paul Raeburn |
Dalbeattie protesters claim both the executive and the local council are
in blatant breach of their obligations under EU law to protect the
remaining raised bogs. Struan Stevenson, the MEP, has arranged a meeting with Margot Wallstrom, the European Commission's environment commissioner, later this month in an attempt to kick-start EU intervention.
The digging out of the bog for a rubbish dump also flies in the face of
the executive's own conservation commitments, protesters claim.
Active raised bogs are listed as a priority habitat in the EU Habitats Directive, the highest level of importance a habitat can have in law. The Dumfries and Galloway local biodiversity action plan has an objective to "ensure no net loss in area or reduction in quality of raised bogs in Dumfries and Galloway".
Paul Kirkland, head of conservation at Butterfly Conservation Scotland said: "We are appalled at the support of Dumfries and Galloway Council for the destruction of a unique site for moths, butterflies and other insects, and a site of our rarest habitat, ancient peatland."
Stephen Howie, chairman of the Dalbeattie Waste Action Group, said: "Surely in a region as vast as Dumfries and Galloway there is a site less environmentally and ecologically sensitive in which we can dump our rubbish."
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| © Paul Raeburn |
What can you do?
Write to Dumfries and Golloway council.
Send your messages by e-mail to:
CIS@dumgal.gov.uk
or mail them at
Dumfries & Galloway Council
Information Services
Carruthers House
English Street
Dumfries
Scotland
DG1 2HP
Tel:- 01387 260000
Fax:- 01387 260225
Write to SNH (Scotish Natural Heritage):
12 Hope Terrace, Edinburgh EH9 2AS
Telephone: +44 (0)131 447 4784
Fax: +44 (0)131 446 2277
or
2 Anderson Place
Edinburgh
EH6 5NP
Telephone: +44 (0)131 447 4784
Fax: +44 (0)131 446 2405
More Information
Stephen Howie, Chairman, Dalbeattie Waste Action Group - 01556 611 493
Photos of the event are available at your photo desk, or from matt.shardlow
