Wildlife

There have been nest boxes in the Gearrchoille since 1990, which have been managed by Andrew Ramsay, Tain, with help from George Ross and a squad of local young people. It's not possible to give exact dates of when the bird boxes will be checked, but if you would like to help with this, contact George and he'll keep you informed of the next outing.

Gearrchoille wood species list
Antler Moth	Epirrita species	Peacock Moth
Autumn Green Carpet	Feathered Thorn	Pine Carpet
Autumnal Moth	Garden Carpet	Pink-barred Sallow
Autumnal Rustic	Green Arches	Poplar Hawk-moth
Barred Chestnut	Green Carpet	Poplar Lutestring
Barred Red	Green Pug	Purple Bar
Bordered Beauty	Grey Arches	Purple Clay
Brimstone Moth	Hebrew Character	Red-green Carpet
Brindled Pug	Ingrailed Clay	Red-line Quaker
Brown Rustic	Iron Prominent	Riband Wave
Chestnut	July Highflyer	Satin Beauty
Clouded Border	Juniper Pug	Scalloped Hazel
Clouded Drab	Large Emerald	Scalloped Oak
Clouded-bordered Brindle	Large Yellow Underwing	Scarce Umber
Common Footman	Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing	Silver-ground Carpet
Common Lutestring	Lesser Swallow Prominent	Small Angle Shades
Common Marbled Carpet	Lesser Yellow Underwing	Small Fan-footed Wave
Common Pug	Light Emerald	Small Wainscot
Common Quaker	Lunar Thorn	Smoky Wainscot
Common Wave	Magpie Moth	Square-spot Rustic
Common White Wave	Map-winged Swift	Swallow Prominent
Coxcomb Prominent	Middle-barred Minor	True Lover's Knot
Dark Arches	Mottled Beauty	Twin-spot Carpet
Dark Marbled Carpet	Mottled Rustic	Water Carpet
December Moth	Mottled Umber	Welsh Wave
Dotted Carpet	Narrow-winged Pug	Winter Moth
Double-striped Pug	November Moth	Wormwood Pug
Early Grey	Nut-tree Tussock	Yellow Horned
Early Tooth-striped	Pale Brindled Beauty	Yellow Shell
Engrailed	Pale Prominent	Yellow-line Quaker

Surveys of the amphibian population have been carried out in 2007 & 2009 by David McAllister, Tain. We plan to continue these after the pond restoration work, which hopefully will help to increase the population. At present, there is little standing water in the wood during a dry spring.

The only species so far recorded in the wood is the common frog, Rana temporaria.

Other species likely to be found in this area; Common Toad, Bufo bufo; Palmate Newt, Lissotriton (Triturus) helvatica.

The Gearrchoille is a biologically diverse woodland supporting a very varied flora. Bluebells & primroses can be seen in the spring before the canopy closes. Bog myrtle is the dominant ground cover in the open areas of the wayleave, whilst bracken predominates in the smaller open areas within the wood. This small area of native woodland boasts a remarkable variety of habitats. A vegetation survey was carried out by Ruth Maier in 2007, which identified 12 different National Vegetation Classification (NVC) types.

Mallard	Sparrowhawk	Buzzard
Osprey – seen flying over	Kestrel	Partridge
Pheasant	Snipe	Woodcock
Wood pigeon	Collared dove	Cuckoo
Tawny owl	Greater spotted woodpecker	Skylark
Meadow pipit	Grey wagtail	Pied wagtail
Wren	Dipper	Dunnock
Robin	Stonechat	Wheatear
Redstart	Blackbird	Song thrush
Redwing	Mistle thush	Fieldfare
Willow warblers	Blackcap	Goldcrest
Flycatcher	Long-tailed tit	Coal tit
Blue tit	Great tit	Tree creeper
Waxwing	Jackdaw	Rook
Raven	Hooded crow	Starling
House sparrow	Chaffinch	Brambling
Siskin	Redpoll	Greenfinch
Bullfinch	Goldfinch	Yellowhammer
Reed bunting