Olav's Wood: Flora and Fauna

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Wildlife in Olav's Wood

Olav's Wood has a rich and varied wildlife - plants, animals and other creatures. There is a long-term project to record this and its development over time. Here are records of wildlife with some extensive and fairly exhaustive lists. However, some of the wildlife is poorly recorded and we welcome contributions to the records.

The value of Olav's Wood for wildlife is demonstrated by the fact that species new to Orkney have been discovered in the woods and some species are known in Orkney only from Olav's Wood. Thanks to Lee Johnson for many of these new records.

• Trees and shrubs planted in Olav's Wood, based on an original list of Olav Dennison, and on planting records.


• Birds and animals in the woods: An extensive list of birds in the woodland and surrounding area provided by Andy Mitchell, together with a list of animals.


• Flowering plants and ferns: A list compiled with the help of John Crossley.


• Mosses and liverworts (bryophytes) of the woodland: A preliminary list has been provided by John Crossley and Rosemary McCance.


• Butterflies and moths: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found in Olav's Wood.


• Invertebrates including insects and other arthropods, and molluscs.


• Fauna of Oback Burn: A sampling of Oback Burn in the woodland was undertaken by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency. Results sent by Andy Mitchell.


• Other wildlife, including fungi, lichens and mycetozoa.

We appreciate additions to these records. If you have any observations to contribute: lists of species, individual records, corrections to current lists or queries, please contact the website (olavswood@gmail.com). All contributions welcome and will be acknowledged.

Pictures: For pictures of the flora of Olav's Wood, visit the specialised wildlife pages above. There is also a Plant Gallery, and a gallery of pictures of nearby roadside plants.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Andy Mitchell for the extensive lists of birds, surveyed over a number of years, some insect records, many photographs on this website, and also for communicating the results of the SEPA sampling of Oback Burn. Lee Johnson visits the woods frequently and has contributed a large number of records, including most of the arthropod records, and many photographs of the wildlife. Thanks to John Crossley for help with the plantlist, to John Crossley and Rosemary McCance for the bryophyte list, and to Sydney Gauld for moth records.

Trees and shrubs

Plants

Birds and animals

Butterflies and moths

Invertebrates

Bryophytes

Fauna of the burn

Other wildlife