Due to the pandemic, many local wildlife organisations have not been as active.
However, people regularly enjoyed taking walks in the country and that has led to the rise of digital photography and that has encouraged a number of people to become wildlife photographers.
A few local naturalists have been busy with their wildlife and conservation actions this year.
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One such example was rescuing the purple hairstreak butterfly.
After the storms earlier this year an enthusiastic local naturalist Kirsty Menzies went looking for fallen branches where some butterfly eggs might have been stranded.
This locally rare species lives only around the tops of oak trees in a few of our native woodlands. One such place is Shaw Wood in the Hawkhead area.
Kirsty Menzies, volunteer at Paisley Natural History Society, said: “I am interested in all kinds of wildlife and the environment, but particularly butterflies. They are a good indicator of the environment and how it is.
“The purple hairstreak butterfly is quite unusual because they fly close to the treetops and you only see them in the evening. The idea is we collect eggs on twigs that have been blown off of the trees.
“They land on the ground and there is no way that the caterpillars, when they hatch out, are going to survive. By raising them, it is quite an inspiring thing to do - watching a little caterpillar emerge and go through all the different stages.
“I came home from work one day to find there was a butterfly. There is a connection with all the processes that it goes through.”
Shaw Wood is an important wildlife site owned by Renfrewshire Council and local naturalists are proposing that it gets more protection and conservation work to give it a secure future.
Paisley Natural History Society has planned an evening trip on Thursday, August 4 to look for these butterflies.
There was also a mission put in place to protect an extremely rare orchid on a farm near Lochwinnoch.
The Early Purple Orchid is one of the rarest species of the plant and it was reported that a site that had 40-50 of the beautiful flowers only had two left.
After approval from the farmer, a makeshift fence was placed around the orchid in the hopes that it would flourish.
The hope is that the plant will flower soon and produce seeds to therefore increase its numbers.
A new website which will be developing over the coming months to provide the background information about the local flora, fauna and wildlife sites to help people appreciate more about Renfrewshire’s wildlife and to help conserve as much as possible.
To see the website and keep updated on the wildlife of Renfrewshire, visit www.spanglefish.com/renfrewshirewildlife
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