Wednesday 17 September 2014

A “Thunderous” month as we swap flowers for fungi

As I type we have probably seen the last few curlews depart, the Loch Garten ospreys have headed south at the end of another successful year, and everywhere we seem to be seeing swallows gathering on wires and feeding over lochs and fields as they also prepare to head south.  It’s also getting darker in the evenings, but robins have started singing again at dawn around about 6am.  The early part of August saw me visiting the last two plant recording tetrads (2 x 2 km squares) down at Insh and Newtonmore, the Insh site producing the only site for moonwort during the summer survey of under-recorded plant areas within the Cairngorms National Park.  In all, 15 outings were made to cover my commitment of 5 tetrads with the first outing in early June and my last in the first week of August.  A total of 3500 plant records were made covering moorland species on the tops of hills at 550 metres to the wide mix of habitats in woodland, fields, stream-sides and lochs.  I have yet to work
Gland hairs on prickly sow thistle
out just how many plant species were found but heather featured a lot as did several sedge species and some of the speedwells.  One plant that caused a few problems when found was prickly sow thistle (Sonchus asper), however its spiky leaves clasping the stem quite tightly helped, and a check of the dandelion type seeds under the microscope ensured I had the
Seed - prickly sow thistle
right species.  The smooth sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) can be quite similar but under the microscope the seeds lacked the “transverse wrinkling between the ribs” found in that species. I have recently visited a site for this sow thistle and now having seen it in the flesh
Seed - smooth sow thistle
can see there is really no comparison.  Thankfully, all hawkweeds were recorded as just that, the plants being just too difficult to identify to species apart from the obvious ones.  Butterflies and dragonflies were recorded as found and a road-side wall near Insh village produced a good population of Peltigera britannica, the nearest recent record being my find in Inshriach Forest in 2011.  The Newtonmore outing also produced something that wasn’t so welcome.  At the end of July I attended a botanical recording evening on Crown Estate land near the Lecht ski area with the aim of trying to re-find hairy stonecrop (Sedum villosum).  This involved following a small burn, the plant often being found in seepage lines close to running water.  As we walked along we came across one of the heavily used management “tools” employed on sporting estates, a fenn trap placed on a log across drains or small burns.  The land we were on is let by the Crown Estate to sporting interests and
Peltigera britannica
grouse shooting is one of the main objectives, so the land would be under quite heavy predator control.  Fenn traps placed on logs over burns, and with a protective cage on top, is a legal way of controlling small predators like stoats and weasles, provided they are checked regularly.  Inside the cage and held in the jaws of the trap was an adult dipper which was long dead showing the trap wasn’t regularly checked.  The trap was also set within a hundred metres of a way-marked path which was a bit of a surprise.  I’ve seen a mouse caught in one of these traps but never a bird – until this year.  On my outing near Newtonmore I firstly came across the biggest number of red-legged partridges I’ve ever
dead dipper
seen, birds presumably reared for sport shooting later in the year.  We can’t retain our native grey partridge as a breeder in this area so these birds are reared and released as a “substitute”.  Having completed the major part of my plant recording walk I was on my way back to the car when I though a small burn might produce a few more plant records for the day.  Lemon-scented fern was found by the burn along with lesser spearwort as was a log based trap.  The trap wasn’t even operational with the fenn trap lying on the ground by the log and again a wild bird was held in its jaws.  So much for regular checking which, if it had been carried out, there wouldn’t have been any evidence of the wrong species being caught. 
unidentified bird in trap
Goodness knows just how many of these legal traps are out there in the countryside, along 800 metres of one of my butterfly transects I can count 4 of these, all openly visible from a public road.  So far, no birds.  If you want to follow a good blog trying to make sporting estates operate a little better see Mark Avery’s blog, Mark and his writing and petitioning is the reason why M&S have decided not to stock red grouse in their stores, worried that they could be found to be supporting the fact that in 20013 no hen harriers bred in England on grouse moors.

The early part of August saw Janet preparing for her Tweedcraft stall at the Abernethy Highland Games and with the tent installed on the 8th all was ready for the Games the following day.  Daughter Laura came over to help and with over 3000 visitors to see the running, dancing and pipe bands, her help was essential – I’m not too good at selling tweed
Massed pipe bands Abernethy Highland Games
bags and ear-warmers!  A bit of torrential rain during the night before the Games had us all worried but the weather for Saturday turned out just right for the event helping to ensure a good turn-out.  Events take place from about 10.30 on the morning of the Games with the official opening, by the special guest for the day at 1pm.  A minutes silence was observed in memory of those lost in the First World War a hundred years ago and this was followed by a “thank you” to Bill Templeton, our near neighbour, who had died that week and who had been a volunteer helper at the Games over many years.  With all the crafts delivered and
Wood ant nest after fire September 2013
installed in the tent I headed off home to spend some time checking sites for tooth fungi (more about that later) but also to re-visit the wood ant nest “destroyed” by fire a year earlier.  A visit to the nest a week after the fire let me see that many of the ants had survived
Same wood ant nest August 2014
(see October 2013 blog) and that they had already started to re-build the totally destroyed nest, so what would it be like 12 months after the fire?  I had seen some good progress via a visit in about May, but what I found on this visit was absolutely amazing.  Despite the surrounding woodland still showing all the evidence of the fire, the ants had been working their socks off, and a huge nest was there for all to see.  If I hadn’t seen and photographed the destroyed nest I would have been struggling to know that anything had happened as there in front of me was a nest whose base was almost as before and with its domed top probably two-thirds the height that it was before the fire.  This was a big nest before the fire and all I can assume is that many of the ants went deep underground during the fire and all
September 2013
were available to help with its re-construction once the fire was out and the damping down work had been completed.  A new nest starts off with just a few ants and over many years the domed structure starts to grow as the ant population grows.  However, this was a very large, well established nest and though no count can be easily made of the numbers in a nest, colonies can number up to half a million ants, though many of the big UK nests probably contain no more than 100,000 individuals.  If only half of that number survived the fire that
August 2014
is still a large number of very determined individuals tasked with re-building their nest.  Whatever, it was still an amazing sight to see such a large structure produce in just one year.  Well done ants!  My surprises though didn’t end there.  As I wandered around the fire site particularly in the area where the fire had started and smouldering probably for several days before “taking off”, burning so deep into the ground that two mature Scots pines had fallen over.  Around the edges of the root-hole craters I started to notice lots of quite shiny, dark
Pine fire fungus (Rhizina undulata)
shiny brown crust-like growths many with a bright yellow margin.  This had to be a fungus whose growth was directly linked to the fire and the more I looked around the more of them could be seen, some coalescing impressively together.  Hopefully this colourful fungus would be easy to identify in the books so a single sample was removed just in case spores needed to be checked.  The Collins Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools lead me to what else
Rhizina undulata spores x1000 (oil)
but the pine fire fungus (Rhizina undulata), a fungus whose spores lie dormant in the forest soil until activated by the heat of the fire and as they grow, the underground mycelium attacks the roots of adjacent pines possibly leading to their deaths.  Watch this space though the reaction won’t be in the same time-scale as the wood ants re-building their nest!

What happened a few days later would have been very welcomed if there was a forest fire.  At about 10pm it started to rain, something we had had little of during the previous few weeks and throughout the night the rain was heard battering down on the Firwood metal roof.  By 10am the following day it had stopped but during the twelve hours about 50mm of
Carrbridge pack-horse bridge with typical river flow
rain had fallen with possibly more in the surrounding hills.  I wandered down to see how high the River Nethy was and as I approached the roar of the water let me know that the river was incredibly high.  None of the usual rocks were visible and quite a bit of woodland debris was rushing by.  Despite taking lots of photos few gave a good interpretation of the height and speed of the flow so once home I thought it would be worth visiting the old pack-horse bridge in Carrbridge, the one, which a couple of weeks earlier had seen lots of the locals doing a bit of pool jumping during a nice warm spell.  Jumping off the bridge on the day after the rain would have seen a quick journey down the rivers to the coast with no survivors.  As I approached the road bridge adjacent to the pack-horse bridge one of the Carrbridge residents said I should have seen it a few hours earlier because by the time I arrive the water level had fallen by 6-7 feet!  Pictures of the bridge at the height of the spate
Carrbridge pack-horse bridge 11 August 2014
Photo © Andrew McMullen
appeared on national BBC news and quite a few folk made the trip to see something that has rarely been seen before, the River Dulnain gaining so much height that the parapets either side of the main arch of the bridge were also under water.  There were similar tales from Deeside and Glenlivet and in Kingussie the normally tiny Allt Mor over-topped its banks and washed away the road under the railway line where it crosses the B970.  Within a few days all rivers were back to normal and, apart from finding debris several feet up on the river banks, it was hard to see there had ever been a problem.  The local weather station, Straythspey Weather, found that August 2014 was the wettest month yet recorded since its records started in 2000, the 189.7mm beating the 155.9mm from April 2012.

Next year I should remember not to offer to take a group out to see the normally abundant tooth fungi.  I had to work hard to find many species in September 2013 after offering to take the local U3A out to see some, and, with something similar on offer to members of the Highland Biological Recording Group for the end of this month, I was once again struggling.  The need for a bit more rain probably during June and July was probably the
Hydnellum caeruleum
reason and I knew I was in trouble when the normally abundant Hydnellum peckii (devil’s tooth or bleeding tooth fungus) was nowhere to be found.  A little odd because at the end of June a single fruiting body of this species along with several of the normally rarer Hydnellum caeruleum (blue tooth) had already appeared by one of the tracks.  Added to this was a request from Maramedia (the timberman beetle film folk) to see if they could film some of the Abernethy tooth fungi for their forthcoming film for the BBC (Highlands: Scotland’s Wild Heart).  With this double request I started doing the rounds of the known
filming tooth fungi
fruiting spots, a little like the 5 year survey but on a smaller scale, and with time a few locations were being found though the devils tooth was being just that…a devil!.  It’s okay finding the fungi but when a two-day filming slot is entered into the diary there is then pressure on trying to find species that will be looking their best at that time.  Quite interestingly as I wandered I started to accumulate species so that as the filming days approached I had found all but one of the 14 species known to grow in Abernethy.  I did though have worries that the brown and blue/black species wouldn’t be “sexy” enough to make it onto your TV screens plus the fact that I had said the film team would need to involve expert Liz so that if they had queries about fungus ecology, the right person would be to hand (I just look for things!).  Despite searching and with only a few days to go before filming there was also the possibility that the cameras would head for Deeside where Liz had also found a few tooth fungi.  Five days to go and I came across a brilliant display of blue tooth, probably the most colourful for the cameras, but with temperatures into the twenties Celsius they soon dried, grew and lost their colour.  One fruiting body though, slightly
Pine bolete left with paler Cep on right
hidden under heather was still in good order and could meet the filming requirements.  Abernethy ended up as the place to do the filming and Liz drove over to meet up with Simon (Producer) and Raymond his cameraman.  Over the next three hours the blue tooth was filmed, then Liz was filmed undertaking typical recording activity along the track, followed by some beautiful Boletus edulis (Cep) and B. pinophilus (pine bolete).  There are huge populations of these edible Boletes this year probably thanks to the deluge.  Highlight of the mornings filming session was seeing over 60 swifts regularly feeding high overhead.  Mid-pm and it started to rain so we moved to check out the second area of good tooth fungi species in the hope that it would stop.  The rain stopped, the warmth returned and the
Liz & film crew brave the midges!
midges came out in there thousands just in time for Liz to do her bit to camera.  How they all stood still to film I don’t know and at one stage Raymond had to remove the lens filter because of the number of midges on it.  The midges might play a part in the final film there were so many clouds of them.  Day two and I returned to point out four tooth fungi species that might make good footage and left Simon and Raymond to do the filming.  As we parted Simon asked me to keep an eye open for any good fly agarics, probably our most colourful fungus, and I said cheerio.  As I drove back down the track a field with birch trees pinged a light on in my head so I parked up.  I looked for any colourful waxcaps in the field without success and eventually ended up in the birches where I couldn’t believe my eyes.  On a slight bank (100% perfect for filming, gills, stems and caps all visible) there were about 20 fruiting bodies of fly agarics, from newly emerged ones through to fully opened caps in red and white
Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria)
splendour and within half an hour I was saying cheerio again with a very happy film team in Agaric heaven.  With all the searching around, the afternoon visit by the HBRG members went very well, the leader knowing where all the species were, having visited the tooth fungi sites several times during the previous week.  We passed the occasional fly agaric but the visit ended with the visitors peering into a small hole, behind moss and heather, in an old quarry to see the tiny fruiting bodies of Hydnellum gracilipes, and despite this fungus being re-found in 2010 after being identified as new to Britain, the group were seeing a fungus that probably less than 50 people in the whole of the UK have set eyes on!  A total of 12 species were seen on the day with one other species to be checked.
The species seen on the day (total 12) are detailed below for the two sites visited:

Species
Speyside Way
Dell track
Species
Bankera fuligineoalba
*
*
*
Hydnellum aurantiacum

*
*
Hydnellum caeruleum
*

*
Hydnellum concrescens
to be checked

to be checked
Hydnellum ferrugineum

*
*
Hydnellum gracilipes

*
*
Hydnellum peckii
*
*
*
Hydnellum cf. scrobiculatum
*

*
Phellodon melaleucus
*

*
Phellodon niger

*
*
Phellodon tomentosus
*
*
*
Sarcodon glaucopus

*
*
Sarcodon squamosus

*
*




Grand Totals
6
9
12

Once again, the annual gathering of the Harley Davidson motorbike enthusiasts took place in Aviemore with their Thunder in the Glens “ride-out” taking place on the Saturday.  There was one big difference though this year – Janet had her craft stall in the heart of the
Harley Davidson camp
gathering in the Aviemore Centre!  The tent and crafts were set up on the Friday morning and ran through to the end of Sunday afternoon.  Despite the event having taken place over the last 18 years (with the ride-out probably a little more recent) we had never ventured into the heart of the gathering and it was quite an eye opener to see the scale of the set up in the Centre.  Trade stands, an avenue of tents selling everything from leather goods to kiddies windmills, and many outlets selling motorbike gear, with the thump of all-day music somewhere nearby.  We were never aware either of just how many participants camped on
£30,000 - each!
the Centre’s spacious lawns, all within a temporary security fence.  Packing the sales good up at the end of each day made for an early start next day to lay out all the tweed items again, but everything went off without a hitch.  An unusual experience but not too sure whether we will be regulars at future gatherings.  Having set up the stall on the Saturday I dashed home to prepare the chalet before grabbing camera gear to see the bikes pass by on the nearby A95, a place I had visited once before with grandson Finlay to see the bikes heading back to Aviemore at the end of the ride out.  The location was quite nice in that the Kincardine Hills
and the Cairngorm Mountains formed an unusual kind of back-drop, though whether this would come through in the photos we would have to wait and see.  About three-quarters of an hour after departing from Aviemore the first of the bikes arrived, all shapes, all sizes and all kinds of outfits.  The one big problem with photographing the bikes is that many have their headlights on, possibly on full beam, and this played havoc with the camera settings.  Lots of under-exposed photos but with a bit of off centre focusing quite a few turned out okay.  There was then just enough time to nip back to see Leeds Rhinos win the Challenge Cup after coming so close on many occasions over the last few years.  After setting up Janet’s stall on the Sunday there was just time in the afternoon to run a check on the horse field at the end of the road for waxcap fungi, just in case another planning application comes along
Hygrocybe conica
and the importance of the field for these fungi needs to be highlighted.  On the last count visit by Liz in 2010, 9 species were identified, and, doing the count just before her visit for the tooth fungi filming, I was able to get confirmation from her that another species had been added to the list - Hygrocybe acutoconia.  Sadly, the number of flowering spikes of field gentian was down to just over 200, down from around 600 on the last count.  Heaps of woodchips stored in parts of the field along with rain seepage from a huge pile of horse poo are not helping the situation.  Waxcaps are an indicator of fairly natural grassland where no ploughing or applications of fertiliser have taken place, a declining habitat worthy of looking after properly, if possible.  However, without any form of protection, this might not be possible.


With the tooth fungi filming team due I wondered whether the rare Bankera violascens had re-appeared in the Sitka spruce plantation near Forres and visiting the wood I could see several fruiting bodies, some newly emerged.  The floor of the spruce wood was covered in fungi most beyond my ID capability, but in the sides of some of the plough-lines there were lots of Phellodon melaleucus (the grey tooth) fruiting bodies, many cascading down the sides
Phellodon melaleucus
of the plough-lines and looking very photogenic.  A possible species for the film crew.  Fly agarics were starting to appear as was another fungus belonging to the “hare’s ear” group of fungi (Otidea).  Somewhere in the back of my brain I seemed to remember a request from Brian at Kew for samples of any of this group of fungi so I popped a couple into a box for checking and drying at home.  If you check any field guide on fungi you will usually see about three or four species described and often what you have collected will “match” one of these.  However, my MapMate database lists 8 species and if you go to the “bible” the FRDBI, you will find 12 species listed.  Hence the request for specimens to find out how many species Britain supports and to add a little more to our knowledge of their distribution.  A visit to the Dell Wood NNR spruce wood just up the road from Firwood again found lots of fungi fruiting with a similar looking Otidea species growing in good numbers in some areas.  The specimen I took home to check, dry and forward had spores which looked the same as my first collection, but we will see what Brian says (Otidea leporine confirmed).  A similar, but larger specimen was found a few days later near Cawdor and just up the road from the house the first “dark” Otidea was found on the roadside verge, the latter belonging to the “toad’s ear” group and could possibly be Otidea bufonia.  Watch this space.  This Dell Wood Norway spruce plantation has also started to give up new
Otedia leporine one of the "Toad's ear" fungi
locations for the green shield moss with at least 10 locations found so far.  Hopefully I can persuade owners SNH (Scottish Natural Heritage) to keep this interesting bit of woodland rather than pursue the removal of all exotic tree species policy (within designated sites) which has seen most of the same trees felled in Abernethy despite the fact that they also supported this rare moss.  Before the rains, the numbers of butterflies on the weekly transect
Scotch argus before the rains
were quite high, particularly for green-veined whites and scotch argus, the latter producing over 100 contacts again on just one count section, as a couple of years ago.  Down came the rains along with the first two frosts and the numbers dropped.  It was a real shame to see the state of the scotch argus butterflies encountered on the same count section a couple of weeks later.  Small heaths have been having a good year and it was nice to have a few contacts with
Scotch argus after the rains
dark green fritillaries though these were all related to a patch of flowering spear thistles which appeared after that section of the moor was burnt a couple of years ago.  So far, only two weekly walks have been missed due to poor weather conditions and these were the first two of the year which isn’t that unusual.  It would be good if I could manage to walk the last four of the year to complete an almost “full house”, something that might not have been achieved before.

That’s it for another month.  We vote tomorrow and have to hope that the ‘jam tomorrow’ folk fail in their bid to break up our UK.  Scotland has not been a nice place to be recently with all the uncertainty of the last few months.  Jam tomorrow – No Thanks.

Stewart and Janet

Prickly sow thistle
Mark Avery
Pine fire fungus (Rhizina undulate) a scientific paper
Strathspey Weather
FRDBI
BSBI
Highland Biological Recording Group
and how to join HBRG

Mouse on peanut feeder - a first!
Frost & misty mornings return
Green lestes damselfly with prey

Photos © Stewart Taylor unless shown otherwise