This paper reports the analysis of a glaciotectonised organic deposit located between a lower weathered till and an upper unweathered till at Balglass Burn, north of the Campsie Fells in central Scotland, UK, close to the centre of ice accumulation in Scotland. Sedimentology, pollen, macroscopic plant remains and Coleoptera indicate accumulation in a small pond, as part of an open, tundra landscape with low floral diversity. MCR palaeotemperature reconstructions for the Coleoptera give a mean temperature for the warmest and the coldest months of 8 to 108C and À26 to À108C respectively, indicating the presence of at least discontinuous permafrost. Six AMS dates on Carex fruit and Coleoptera fragments give ages between 34 480 and 28 050 14 C yr BP (ca. 39.8 to ca. 32.8 cal. yr BP; Fairbanks et al. (2005)). The upper till and the glaciotectonism are attributed to glaciation during the LGM. Glaciotectonic deformation means that the ages do not indicate sequential development and it is not possible to relate this palaeo-evidence to the fine resolution palaeoclimatic signature for MIS 3. However, the fact that this part of central Scotland was ice-free at this time means that some recent proposals suggesting that the British ice sheet began to accumulate around the middle of MIS 3 are unlikely to be correct. Figure 4 (A) Photograph of the section with the Balglass Burn organic sand with 1 m staff for scale. The organic unit is the dark structure in the centre of the picture with a deformed, anvil-like shape. The unconformity between the upper deposit (boulder bed) and the underlying units is visible, as is the lower dark grey diamicton to the right of the organic unit and the upper reddish brown diamicton which is to the left of the organic deposit. (B) The section drawing showing the major lithostratigraphic units at the Balglass Burn organic site. This figure also shows the position of the sampling points for luminescence dating and micromorphology

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This paper reports the discovery of a rare partial skeleton of a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis Blumenbach, 1799) and associated fauna from a low Pleistocene terrace of the River Tame at Whitemoor Haye, Staffordshire, UK. A study of the sedimentary deposits around the rhino skeleton and associated organic‐rich clasts containing pollen, plant and arthropod remains suggests that the animal was rapidly buried on a braided river floodplain surrounded by a predominantly treeless, herb‐rich grassland. Highlights of the study include the oldest British chironomid record published to date and novel analysis of the palaeoflow regime using caddisfly remains. For the first time, comparative calculations of coleopteran and chironomid palaeotemperatures have been made on the same samples, suggesting a mean July temperature of 8–11 °C and a mean December temperature of between −22 and −16 °C. Radiocarbon age estimates on skeletal material, supported by optically stimulated luminescence ages from surrounding sediments, indicate that the rhino lived around 41–43 k cal a BP. The combined geochronological, stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental evidence places the assemblage firmly within the Middle Devensian (Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3). This would agree with other regional evidence for the timing of aggradation for the lowest terrace of the Trent and its tributary systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.