St Andrews Links Blog

New visitors spotted on the Links

The warm and wet weather we’ve had lately has given us an amazing array of fungi across the courses. At the moment there are colourful waxcaps and puffballs in their hundreds and I hope to have a good amount of photos to show you in next week’s blog but for now take a look at this beauty! It’s commonly known as a shaggy ink cap or a lawyers wig if you prefer and can be found growing beside the 10th hole on the Jubilee Course.

The birdlife across our site is in very good shape with a great selection to see adjacent to the Eden Estuary side of the Links. This week saw a huge amount of shell duck, lapwing and geese arriving including numerous sightings of greenshank and goldfinch; one or two whitethroats are still in the area but it may be an idea to keep a look out for snow bunting which will be arriving around now and I was informed that upwards of 50 were recorded in the area in 2001, maybe this could be our year! Other than that you will have to make do with this family of ring plovers which can be seen from the 8th tee of the Jubilee Course.

Above: Ring plovers

The eco team have again been performing their gorse management to the highest standard in awful weather conditions this week with a good amount of vegetation removed from the New Course’s 4th hole. The area in which we worked had taken on a leggy appearance where very little birdlife cohabits and I am pleased to say that past management of the area is regenerating nicely. I must point out that there is only ever one third of any gorse stand removed at any one time – too much is detrimental to the environment as fauna really doesn’t like too much change you know. This week’s grafters were (left to right in header image) Phil, Daire, Mathilda and Lorenzo – thanks for the help team!

 

Words by James Hutchinson, Environmental Officer