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 several 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 these records, which may be found on the Invertebrates page below.

• Trees and shrubs planted in Olav's Wood, based on an original list of Olav Dennison.
• 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.
• A list of species in Olav's Wood contributed by Lee Johnson (Aug 2015).

We would appreciate additions to these records (and new lists, e.g. of fungi and of lichens). 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 Plant Gallery, and also the gallery of pictures of nearby roadside plants. Some pictures of wildlife in the woodland are available in the Wildlife Gallery. Other pictures are found on the specialist pages above.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Andy Mitchell (a former RSPB warden) for the extensive lists of birds, surveyed over several years, some insect records, and also for communicating the results of the SEPA sampling of Oback Burn. Thanks to John Crossley for help with the plantlist, to John Crossley and Rosemary McCance for the bryophyte list, and to Sydney Gauld for the list of moths. Lee Johnson visits the woods frequently and has contributed many records, including most of the arthropod records, and some photographs.

Trees and shrubs

Plants

Birds and animals

Butterflies and moths

Invertebrates

Bryophytes

Fauna of the burn

Other wildlife