Sunday 27 July 2014

“Angel of the North” may prove to be something new, and happy 1st birthday Harry

June saw me dusting off the Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers and printing off five maps each with an area of 2km x 2km highlighted (tetrads) at the start of a survey, with others, of areas within the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) area where there are few plant records.  My recording squares are spread between Newtonmore to the south and Grantown in the north, once again taking me into areas seldom, if ever, visited in the past.  The maps were the easy bit, awakening my brain to the various species of buttercups, violets and rushes would be more difficult as recent plant records for the various databases comprised those that I knew to be rare or local in their distribution.  This project is aimed at recording as many species as possible from each of the tetrads visited, with records made, if possible, for each of the one hundred metre squares walked through within the recording area.  The project is being supported by the CNPA and the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) and organised by local BSBI recorder Andy Amphlett allowing a little funding to be available to cover mileage costs.  Normally my outings are as a
Bird cherry by River Tromie
volunteer with all costs borne by myself.  Though the many hours of data entry covering plants seen (the boring bit) would continue to be done as a volunteer!  An outing to try to re-find Shepherd’s Cress (Teesdalia nudicaulis), would be a good introduction to one of my tetrads, listing all the plants as I walked along the bank of the River Tromie.  The cress wasn’t found but my brain was given a thorough work-out and McClintock and Fitters guide
was consulted regularly as I battled with the white flowers of stitchworts, mouse-ears and chickweeds.  Whilst this isn’t the most modern of wild flower guides it has the huge benefit of showing all the illustrations of blue, yellow flowers etc. together, saving having to thumb through the 600 pages of the newer Collins Flower Guide.  As it would be impossible to visit every part of a tetrad I employed a transect method, walking a line through each of the 1km squares but diverting off-line to visit interesting areas, like bogs, along the route.  To date nothing too unusual has turned up but additional records of butterflies and dragonflies in under-visited areas has been quite valuable.

A phone call early in the month from Beth at the Boat of Garten Post Office was pretty amazing – “You’re in the Times” she informed Janet!  On this particular day I was visiting daughter Laura and Douglas to pick up their cat before they departed on holiday but on the way I had picked up a copy of The Times so I dashed out to the car to get it.  Inside, in Melanie Reid’s Notebook article she is berating BT about her broadband not
The Times article
working and at the end she suggests a good way to get over her rage at the poor service was to make use of a present a friend had bought her – a Dammit Janet Doll, made by no-other than Janet Taylor of Nethybridge!  There followed several phone calls and emails asking Janet how the callers could get a doll to ensure a few more folk could “encase themselves in the scent of lavender”.  Thanks Melanie, but obviously Andy Murray didn’t take up your suggestion!

On the 6th June there were many events to commemorate D-Day 70 years ago with original footage shown about the horrors of what took place on the beaches of Normandy.  Highlight of the day was the “escape” of Bernard Jordan from his care home in East Sussex to join other veterans attending events in France a repeat of the true war-time grit displayed by so many 70 years ago.  We will remember them.  My day was nowhere near as eventful but did have a few pleasant surprises.  The sun
The red-felt mite gall on birch leaf
shone allowing the weekly butterfly transect to be walked, green-veined whites being the only species seen.  The red-felt mite gall (Acalitus longisetosus) was the first find, the distinctive purple/red gall covering the leaves of a young birch tree.  The orange ladybird (Halyzia 16-guttata a bit easier than Halyzia sedecimguttata!) was also seen again for the second time in a couple of weeks, a nice find and an indicator of ancient woodland habitat.  A
Orange ladybird
small purple-bar moth also remained still enough on one track to allow me to photograph it.  Then it was over to daughter Ruth’s to cut their grass with the aim on the way back to investigate an introduced plant that we had seen whilst driving past and could cause big problems in the future.  This plant, skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) can easily be
Small purple-bar moth
bought from garden centres with the nice wee advert “A marginal aquatic, which is ideal for softening the edges of a pond or stream, or for growing in bog gardens and other areas that remain waterlogged for any length of time”.  No warning about the problems it can cause, and yours on a 3 day delivery for just £9!  Several years ago many of our local schools created their own wildlife gardens and it would appear that someone at Deshar School in
Skunk cabbage
Boat of Garten though this would be a good plant to add diversity to the edge of a wee stream on the edge of the playground (apologies if this isn’t how it arrived).  As the monster leaves expanded in May and June we could see that a big population had become established along this wee stream with a few plants creeping up towards the main road.  I parked up and climbed over the fence, and, being in plant recording mode, started to list the plants I could identify.  I wandered out towards a group of aspens and came across a resting peacock moth (Macaria notate), beauty in the size of a fifty pence piece.  Looking down the stream I could
Peacock moth - Macaria notate
see the cabbage was thickly established all the way along the water-course and under a nice stand of willows.  Beyond the willows was a small sedge filled lochan, at least half of which was now covered by this invasive plant.  In time there is no doubt that the plant will continue to follow the trickle of water and reach a true lochan called Loch Ban.  Armed with the grid references covering the size of the population it is time to let the Park and Highland Council Ecologists know about this growing problem.  The weather forecast for the rest of the day and evening was set fair so time to complete the third and final woodcock survey.  Thankfully, I set off with a reasonable amount of time to spare (the count was to start at 9.55pm and end at 11.10pm) because on the way to the Sluggan Bridge a group of elms caught my eye.  A recent entry on the Highland Biological Recording Group website had asked folk to keep an eye open for curled leaves on elm trees because there were very few records of the aphids causing the leaf curl in northern Scotland. 
Eriosoma ulmi on elm leaf
As I checked the lower branches I could see several curled leaves and once home managed to un-curl to find the waxy Eriosoma ulmi aphids inside.  Over the Sluggan Bridge and another find to stop me in my tracks.  By the edge of the track I could see a couple of morel-like fungi, and, being only early June I thought it might be something I’d not seen before.  So, out came the camera again, and though it was getting a bit dark, setting the camera on the mini-tripod I was able to get reasonably clear photos.  Further along the track there were more and this carried on, in places for several hundred metres, so with plenty of specimens, a
Elfin saddle morel
couple were taken for checking at home.  I needn’t have worried because the grooves on the stem of the fungus lead me to the elfin saddle morel (Helvella lacunose) something I’d seen several times in the past but in September.  Earlier in the day I had also seen my first chanterelle – in early June!  Very odd.  By now I was behind time and I had to push on up the hill quite quickly to get to the woodcock recording location in time for the 9.55pm start time, just in time for the first woodcock to pass roding overhead.  By the end time seven
Last woodcock count
woodcock fly-pasts had been recorded, one involving two birds chasing and with a moon now visible above the woodland track, just time for one last photo.  With darkness descending fast I made my way back down through the trees to the track leading back to the bridge and car.  As I “clicked” my way along the track with my Leki-poles I suddenly became aware of something on the track to my left and as my eyes focused on the object I realised I was standing next to a roe deer calf!  Surely if I stop, it will disappear off into the night, but no, it
"Frozen" roe deer calf
remained motionless as though frozen to the spot.  Would it let me take its photo?  Not a problem, though I did have problems with my camera, not being able to see the setting properly.  It was only later that I realised the flash had been set at just 25% of maximum for photos I had taken a few days earlier.  Dammit Janet!  Photo taken I pushed on leaving the “frozen” youngster just where it had been found.  Amazing.

Over the last few weeks I had been helping the Woodland Trust and Ancient Tree Forum select local woods where suitably ancient trees could be found for measuring/surveying to add to the database of where these great leviathans are to be found currently.  Of the 4 woods visited by the recce team in May, two were selected for their members to visit in
Phaeolus schweinitzii - dyer's mazegill
June, an area within Abernethy with ancient Scots pines and alders and a second mainly birch and aspen woodland close to Aviemore.  The survey day went well and a good mix of trees were visited, surveyed and photographed to add to the growing database.  The Ancient Tree Forum developed from a gathering of experts several decades ago who realised there was a need to raise an awareness of the biodiversity value of veteran trees, many of great age.  This group was able to bring together forestry and biodiversity knowledge and expertise to assist with the management of ancient and veteran trees for the benefit of owners, advisers and practitioners.  I attended one of the first meetings of the veteran tree group making contact with two of the people whose passion for these ancient features in our
Jill, Ted and another ancient species
landscape were the reason for the Ancient Tree Forum coming to life, Jill Butler and Ted Green.  Both were taking part in the days surveying and the next day we had the opportunity to meet up to catch up with each other’s news and ideas, and to visit a couple of sites were we would be amongst the trees we value so much.  The morning outing allowed us to visit ancient trees both alive and in their secondary life of dying and decay.  Old fruiting bodies of the bracket fungus Phaeolus schweinitzii or dyer’s mazegill were found on the trunk and roots of a live Scots pine and close by Jill and Ted came face to face for the first
Stemonitis fusca slime mould
time with a small population of green shield moss capsules.  The same tree also produced a small population of a quite amazing myxomycete fungus (slime mould family) called Stemonitis fusca.  After a quick lunch we then visited one of my favourite ancient woods locally, comprising a mix of ancient aspens, willows, bird cherrys and elms.  Jill couldn’t resist going straight into survey mode and before we departed a couple of dozen trees had been measured and recorded.  Ancient tree batteries fully charged all round it was time to say cheerio, and just a great honour to be associated with such dedicated veteran tree experts. 

A long day plant recording near Dulnain Bridge ended by finding yet another act of agricultural vandalism taking place.  From a high vantage point on the A95 road I was able to look down onto the wet, rush dominated fields east of the River Spey and close to Broomhill Bridge, to see a JCB trying to get a bogged down tractor, complete with plough attached, mobile again.  I had noticed a few days earlier that the vegetation on these two wet fields had been sprayed with herbicide, and here I was, once again, watching the man with the yellow JCB destroying several more hectares of prime wader habitat.  I took a few photos with my
Wader habitat being lost - with JCB on hand
small lensed camera before dashing home to get the other camera complete with telephoto lens to get a better photo record of what was going on.  Not only is this a loss of good wader breeding habitat, it was also an area which probably produced lots of insects for other birds to feed on along with the plants that supported the insect life that pollinated the plants that the birds depended on.  There really is no end to the greed of this particular farmer(?) who has systematically drained, sprayed, ploughed and fertilised land which once supported lots of wildlife.  For years now, RSPB, SNH and the CNPA have written lots of words about helping the wader populations of this area, and still the birds, plants and animals continue to lose out to agricultural greed.  Emails and photos were sent next day to the three bodies mentioned earlier informing about what once again was happening.  A reply from RSPB at least acknowledged that all previous initiatives seemed to have failed to halt the rapid loss of wader habitat and that new initiatives were currently being considered.  A response from the Park though doesn’t hold out much hope for improvements in the near
Wader loss, all the green areas were once wader
 fields
future with the suggestion that because of “the types of soil we have locally there will continue to be ploughing, harrowing, re-seeding, rolling and spraying to maintain grazing and crops”.  However, “this should be done with caution and according to best practice with waders in mind”.  Oh yeah?  Last month I mentioned the spraying that was taking place with young waders present on a farm in Cromdale and at Broomhill herbicide was applied and habitat destroyed probably with young waders present.  I’m sure I could see something attached to the JCB which looked like a large hand with two fingers pointing skyward and bouncing up and down as it left the field. 

The next section of this blog couldn’t be more different.  Late June sees the annual count of lesser butterfly orchids in three local fields and Jeremy and Jane at the Flowerfield site should be given medals for their continuing work with their amazing orchid field.  The work undertaken by Andy as the Parks rare plants officer over the last three years has now ended, but to continue the count as accurately as possible, the two of us did the count as
Lesser butterfly orchid
volunteers this year.  It was fairly obvious that there were fewer lesser butterfly orchids this year after the record breaking count in 2013, but the systematic walking of recording lines about 3 metres apart across the whole field was adhered to.  With less orchids to count the whole site was completed by early afternoon with a total of 1225 lesser butterflies recorded.  As Andy departed I remained on site to count the small white orchids and over the next hour a total of 338 were counted.  When the sun shone meadow brown, ringlet, common blue and small pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies were seen along with flying and mating six-spot burnets.  On the way home I called in at one of the other lesser butterfly orchid sites and found 16 were present this year.  This site seemed to have more fragrant orchid than in 2013 so a quick check produced about 250 on the hand tally counter.  On the way into the field I noticed an unusual plant growing by the track and with the orchid count complete I went back to investigate.  The plant I was looking at appeared to be a member of the Allium
Un-opened flowers of
Keeled garlic - Allium carinatum
(onion and garlic) family, was about 30cm high, and with an unopened flower ball at the top of the stem.  The only wild Allium I had ever seen was growing on a calcareous rock outcrop near Tomintoul and that one was field garlic (Allium oleraceum).  This new location didn’t appear to be lime rich so it looked like this one would be keeled garlic (Allium carinatum), but I would need to seek the help of Paul, the BSBI Allium expert.  Paul agreed that the Allium in the photo looked like keeled garlic but I would need to check the flower ball once it opened, keeled garlic has pink flowers and field garlic white!  Just checked, and I can report pink flowers.  Close by there is another unusual plant, climbing corydalis (Ceratocapnos claviculata), hinting at a slightly higher pH in the soil at this location.  Interestingly, this is the first record of the keeled garlic in the Cairngorms Park area, and currently there are only 12 locations known for the corydalis.

As you will know from earlier blogs, I have been involved in recording a group of fungi found growing on the leaves of twinflower (Linnaea borealis).  The larger (but tiny) black spots on the leaves were identified as Metacoleroa dickiei, and a little later staff at Kew identified a second, tiny spot
Twinflower
fungus on the leaves as Sphaerulina leightonii.  However, as a short paper on these finds was being prepared for Field Mycology, Martyn at Kew was having a few doubts as to the true identity of this particular fungus.  This followed on from another fungus that had been identified in the past on the leaves of the original collection of twinflower leaves, made in 1837, and still held in the Kew collection.  Working with some of my recent collections of leaves with the spot fungi, I found and photographed something I had seen via the
"My Angel of the North" conidium at x1000
microscope and named, temporarily, as “The Angel of the North” because its shape resembled the form of Anthony Gormley’s sculpture near Gateshead.  Without going into too much technical detail (of which I am not an expert) I gather what I had seen and photographed is called a “conidium” something linked to the modes of reproduction of the fungus.  With this additional bit of information Martyn may have a useful link in helping to provide a name for what is currently growing on the twinflower leaves.  Watch this space.

That’s it for another month.  Sorry for delay, Uist holiday and extremely sunny weather meant surveys continued apace and with everything nice and dry, outside painting and maintenance jobs were progressed.

Stewart and Janet

Bernard Jordan
Skunk cabbage and RSPB Insh Marshes
Ancient Tree Forum
Woodland Trust
Myxomycetes
Highland Biological Recording Group
and how to join HBRG

Happy 1st birthday Harry
Serrated wintergreen - Orthilia secunda
The "famous" Dammit Dolls
The mountains of Skye from Plockton on way to holiday
but more about that next month

Photos © Stewart Taylor