Rare Ice Hair Phenomenon Spotted on Dougalston Golf Course

An incredibly rare weather phenomenon ‘Ice Hair’ has been spotted this morning on the outskirts of Milngavie on the Dougalston Golf Course.

Hidden in several nooks around the greenbelt area on the north west side, ice had formed into hair clouds with the appearance of candy floss, also known as Ice Wool.

Hundreds of individual strands of frozen water are held together, appearing at night, typically disappearing when the sun comes up. The extremely seldom seen spectacle is caused by a fungus called Exidiopsis effuse and only grows on humid winter nights when the temperature is between 0.2 and 0.4 degrees centigrade above freezing.

Local resident and keen bird watcher Craig Gordon was out for a morning walk, making his way down from the Nuffield Golf Club where it joins the woodland walk, an area brimming with wildlife where protected species, such as bats and pine martens are regularly sighted.

Craig Gordon said: “A significant number of the birds on the RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology endangered list, including song thrush and mistle thrush are thriving in Dougalston and so this is a regular walk for me. When I saw the Ice Hair, I knew what it was straight away and I couldn’t believe my luck at seeing it first-hand. I’d heard of Ice Hair but I never expected to see it. I took some pictures as quickly as I could because I didn’t know when I’d see it again.”

LoveDougalston is a local organisation passionate about protecting and preserving the Dougalston Greenbelt, keeping the idyllic haven safe from development.

Local resident and LoveDougalston spokesperson, Andy Gibson said: “Dougalston really is a special place and the sighting of rare Ice Hair is just another example of how unique this greenbelt area is. LoveDougaston is urging people to support East Dunbartonshire Council’s decision to retain green belt status and not to allocate this site for development in their proposed Local Development Plan 2. Support for the Council’s assessment that development of this land is unsuitable will prevent the beloved Dovecot and other historic features of the area from being engulfed by residential housing.”

Friday 15th January is the deadline for representations to be made to the East Dunbartonshire Council. A representation can be submitted by anyone in Scotland. A free representation guide and easy letter template is available on the LoveDougalston website www.lovedougalston.co.uk.