Invertebrate Common Standards Monitoring (CSM) at SSSIs across Scotland

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A series of surveys were undertaken to assess the invertebrate assemblages and designated invertebrate interests at several SSSIs across Scotland to assess if they were in favourable condition.

Condition assessment surveys were undertaken at: Woodhall Loch, noted for the presence of the caddis Anabolia brevipennis; Buckstruther Moss, noted for its assemblage of aquatic beetles in the boggy pools across the site; Cleghorn Glen, noted for the snail Succinella oblonga and the caddis Adicella filicornis at small springs and seepages within the glen; the Lochs of Harray and Stenness, in particular the populations of the caddis Ylodes reuteri and the nerite snail Theodoxus fluviatilis at its most northerly site; and Rannoch Moor, noted for its aquatic beetle assemblage within the various lochs, lochans and bog pools across the site. Sampling was also carried out amongst the dune slack pools and ponds at the Yellow Mires Marsh at Aberlady Bay on the Firth of Forth SSSI, noted for records of the beetles Hydraena pulchella and Dryops nitidulus, although subsequent investigation of the literature proved that both these historical records were in fact erroneous and should be removed from the designation.