David Elston
I will use BlueSky to share discoveries of and observations about higher plants, mostly in and around Aberdeen, Scotland
- Rough horsetail in a flush near Kintallen, Argyll, today. In addition to having green stems, others were drained of chlorophyll so coloured red (belated autumn colours) or even a skeletal white.
- Lovely patches of filmy-ferns on rocks at Kentallen, Argyll. These ones have fimbriate indusial valves, so I think are Tunbridge filmy-fern.
- Lastly from Seil Island, soft shield-fern. Growing on wet, shaded cliffs, recorded nearby on the mainland but not beyond the Clachan Bridge (aka the Bridge Over The Atlantic).
- Greater tussock-sedge forming strange colemnular structures by the shore on Seil Island. One even had a rowan tree growing out of it.
- The BSBI DDb only has one record for yellow saxifrage from Seil Island, dated 1993. Pleased to say it's still present in a rocky flush north of Ellenabeich. Also still identifiable with a bit more difficulty is distant sedge (last Seil record also 1993). A great place to come and update old records!
- At the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Ballachuan Hazelwood reserve on Seil Island today. Apparently there's something called glue fungus that stops dead twigs falling to the ground. Perhaps that is behind the balancing act in this photo? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballach...
- From what I've seen so far, Rubus polyanthemus is a common bramble on Seil Island. Took a while to find a leaf with more than 5 leaflets, but got there in the end with this magnificent 7-er!
- Delighted to receive my copy of the new BSBI Roses Handbook. Much better entertainment during the longest nights than Christmas TV!
- Saw this patch of interrupted clubmoss from a track at Potarch, South Aberdeenshire, I've walked along many times before. I normally visit in summer, so will blame the leaves on the trees then for not having spotted it previously. An interesting setting, in birch woodland at just ca 95 m altitude.
- Given my home parch is devoid of mistletoe, I make a point of looking out for it when visiting family in Hertfordshire. These ones were on some sort of maple, which was a bit unexpected.
- Simon Milne, RBGE Regius Keeper, receiving one of two pre-retirement gifts from Matt Harding, BSBI Scotland Officer, in acknowledgement of his support for BSBI and the wider botanical community in Scotland. This gift? A data stick containing e-copies of each of the BSBI handbooks!
- Matt Harding (BSBI) and Pete Hollingsworth (RBGE) bringing yesterday's Scottish Botanists's Conference to a close after an uplifting day of talks. workshops, poster displays and mingling amongst the ca 200 attendees. Meeting old friends and new at the SBC is highlight of the year.
- Great start by Sarah Watts to today's Scottish Botanists' Conference, describing her research on restoration of Scotland's mountain woodland.
- In Banchory with time to spare, I headed to Burnett Park, where the curling pond has (prob. native) floating club-rush growing side by side with (prob. introduced) frogbit. In woodland by the tennis courts is common wintergreen, a recent discovery: serrated wintergreen seems sadly to be long gone.
- A good day for tiny plants at Sands of Forvie NNR today: after admiring the small adder's-tongues we went back to count them (22 plants), then noticed allseed (10 plants) which we'd missed a few minutes earlier. First allseed I've seen there after over 30 years of trying! My pinkie for scale.
- Himalayan knotgrass along the Old Deeside Railway Line to the west of Aberdeen. Quite a large patch but hidden from view down the embankment and behind some bushes. Will control measures drive invasive non-natives to evolve to grow in hidden corners (as if they don't do enough of that already)?
- Some lovely areas of wet heath near Boat of Garten had impressively large and dense mats of small cranberry. Given how healthy these mats looked, they had surprisingly few berries, but just a few had fully open flowers so perhaps more to come?
- Here's a nice juxtaposition from below Cairngorm earlier this week: bilberry (left) and bog bilberry (right), demonstrating differences in shape and colour of both leaves and stems.
- Attractive colouration displayed by deergrass, dwarf willow and viviparous sheep's-fescue, plus curved wood-rush in a rocky hollow, some highlights of a walk from the Coire Cas car park to Ben Macdui summit.
- Here's the highlight from a bicycle-based tour of a rather unpromising tetrad inland from Catterline, Kincardineshire: a second county site for rustyback. Close to a house and farm, so perhaps a localised escape though not growing on the outside of a domestic wall.
- Pleased to find a new site for alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage, in Glens of Foudland, North Aberdeenshire. Nearby, striking autumn colours of sheep's sorrel and either pale lady's-mantle (BSBI Handbook) or intermediate lady's-mantle (BSBI DDb) as vernacular names for Alchemilla xanthchlora.
- Revisited an odd horsetail at Den of Maidencraig LNR, Aberdeen, which I think is shore horsetail, the hybrid of water and common horsetails. Like a long-branched common horsetail but with stems smoother, compressible due to a large central hollow and protruding cortex when pulled apart lengthways.
- Close to my heart as well. Have just signed and hope others do too.
- How about this for a monster sun spurge? In an arable field margin near Rothienorman, north Aberdeenshire, yesterday.
- Spent today in the last two tetrads entirely in Kincardineshire with fewer than 30 higher plant records. Highlights a colony of blue water-speedwell in a little-used sand quarry (scarce in the county) plus a fragment of relic heath (heather grows much bigger when protected from browsing by gorse).
- So that's 3 more tetrads struck off North Aberdeenshire's list of areas with inadequate higher plant records. Highlights from the largely aforested low hills west of Huntly were greater and lesser tussock sedges, late flowering grass-of-Parnassus and a hectad first for the bramble Rubus dasyphyllus.
- Really enjoyed today's roses workshop led by Roger Maskew and Gareth Knass. Introduced to many new characters to look out for, such as leafy bracts. I clearly have much more to learn about this fascinating but challenging group, so am eagerly awaiting the publication of their BSBI Roses Handbook...
- Parsley fern only grows at three sites in North Aberdeenshire, all are spoil heaps from former quarries. Nice to see it doing well at Hill of Foudland today, though its long term prospects here are surely bleak if the heath continues to spread over the currently bare stones.
- Six-stamened waterwort, found floating in an artificial loch near Monymusk today. Third South Aberdeenshire site from the year 2000.
- Came across an unfamiliar willow at Drumblade, near Huntly, this week. From a distance resembling crack willow, but the bark was smooth and grey. Back home, I'm thinking it's European violet-willow, characterised by: leaves pale below; pruinose stems below buds; and glands on inside of stipules.
- An interesting juxtaposition of wild strawberry and stone bramble today by the River North Esk near Edzell, the contrast enhanced by the early onset of autumn colours in the stone bramble leaves.
- Twinflower leaves were starting to show their autumn colours at Glen Tanar NNR today.
- Back in the spring I took a walk on Tullos Hill, Aberdeen, while the car was being serviced and found what looked like cleft bramble Rubus fissus but was unsure as no leaves present. Went back today during its MOT test and collected the first localised record for the bramble in the NJ90 hectad.
- Pleased to find this single plant of prickly saltwort in full bloom on a beach north of Peterhead today, a surprisingly rare species in this part of North Aberdeenshire despite all the suitable habitat (ca 15 km of sandy coast sweeping up past Rattray Head to St Combs, with more to Fraserburgh).
- Pellitory-of-the-wall has a long history at Tolquhon Castle, North Aberdeenshire, the first BSBI record being attributed to the Earl of Aberdeen in 1817. Took a bit of searching to find some yesterday as the ruins have mostly been cleansed of vegetation, but I'm pleased to say it is still there!
