St.Ninians

No, not a throwback set of movies which would undoubtedly come under much closer scrutiny than they might have back in the day but a former opencast mine which has gone partway being made into ... well, I'm not sure. Sculpture park? Luckily the lack of decent access means it's very quiet, and looks like a place to have a lot of fun recording. No doubt at the right time there are professional dog-walkers out there who also love it, sadly.

I can't imagine that all that marginal stones and mud would go without migrant waders in season.

Panoramic from west of the large pond

And the satellite view...

On the margins I found abundant Olisthopus rotundatus and Fife's first Zorochros minimus, amongst a collection of commoner fare.

Plant-wise nothing in particular happening yet, but you never know.

Below this rock was a large collection of beetles, slugs, earthworms and the tiniest newt I've ever seen. I didn't even try to identify it. I'd guess Palmate.

This is as far as I managed today during lunchtime. I expect in short order I'd easily while away a day there when the inverts really kick off.

Edit: also new for me was this Agonum marginatum. Three new beetles in a couple of square metres can't be bad!