Outings with the Kentish glory lure continued, nine outings
accounting for a few hours of watching the hanging lure. Despite several woods looking suitable only
one outing this month produced any contacts with the moth and this was a repeat
visit showing that a single visit might not always produce a positive
outcome. However, the site where the
moth was seen was pretty good and despite
 |
| Kentish glory moth attracted to the pheromone lure |
one visit comprising a rapid fly-by
the second encounter was the best of all outings with the moth being around the
lure for about two minutes and actually landing on the lure on two occasions
with possibly a mating attempt. Between
26 April and 10 May I made 7 outings comprising 36 location checks of which 6
made contact with the moth. Gabby Flinn
who organised the lure-based survey reported that it had been a huge success
and many more locations for the moth had been recorded. A few days after my last outing I was heading
north again to the green shield-moss site near Beauly mentioned last month and
decided to take the lure with me which, if successful, would greatly expand the
moth’s range. The moth didn’t appear
but, as I wandered the wood other species of interest were found.
On my last visit to this wood an old orchid flower spike was
identified by expert Ian as a bird’s-nest orchid, not a common orchid in our
part of the UK but checking other records we found it had been recorded not too
far from my site. On this visit I
returned to the general area where the old spike had been found and managed to
re-find it. A search of the wider area
managed to find another. As I
 |
| Bird's-nest orchid old flower spike |
 |
| The basal leaf of the goldilocks buttercup |
checked
fallen birches for the moss another spike was found and I wondered if this
wood might be quite important for this orchid.
As I searched around for more spikes a plant leaf (I know, all a bit
sad!) set off a wee light in my head. A
few days earlier local botanist Andy had sent round pictures of a flower,
flower and stem and the distinct basal leaves of the early flowering buttercup
– goldilocks (Ranunculus auricomus), and to me the leaves I was looking at were
the basal leaves of this plant. No
flowers as yet, so photos and a single leaf specimen was taken to check. After a bit of debate and emails to plant
recorder Ian we were all happy that this was goldilocks, and this was a new 10K
square (hectad) for the plant. It was
also nice to see primroses flowering and the un-furling fronds of beech fern. The orchid finds though hadn’t finished and
as I checked a fallen willow tree for lichens and mosses, there were two more
old bird’s-nest orchid spikes.
Considering I was finding so many old spikes, the ones that had survived
the winter and visits by grazing deer and other animals, how many more might
there have been during the growing season?
Another visit would be
 |
| Goldilocks buttercup in flower top and a very young bird's-nest orchid bottom |
necessary in a few weeks time to find out so
watch this space. A couple of days later
I visited a site near Grantown on Spey to see flowering goldilocks buttercups to
help with future encounters and to see if there was anything showing at a known
site for a couple of bird’s-nest orchids from the past, and, at just a couple
of inches tall, something was growing that indicated at least one survived, and
giving me an idea of the timescale needed to revisit the other site.
Work with aspens also continued through May with several
visits made to complete the heightening of the stock fence, install a people
sized access gate, and complete the repair to a section of the fence after the
stag incursion! These repairs involved
installing a new corner straining post (thanks Davie and Danny local fencing
contractors), tightening all the wires and slowly adding wooden markers to
 |
| Lifting the aspen transplants |
minimise bird collisions. I also spent a
couple of mornings in the RSPBs tree nursey lifting young aspen transplants
which they had donated to the new aspen wood project. Twenty-five trees were lifted, bagged and a
bit of water added to the plastic bag to help the young trees get a good start
in life once planted. This was repeated
eight times so that a total of two hundred aspen transplants were
 |
| The aspen planting team and the transplants in situ |
ready to
transport to site to be planted on 11 May by a team of aspen project
volunteers. The planting day went well,
and the final task was to add a small cane and short spiral tree guard to each
transplant to protect against any hare de-barking attacks. Fingers were crossed in the hope that the
growing season would progress well and the first ‘new’ wood via the Cairngorms
National Park aspen project would become established. In addition, just over one hundred tree
shelters were installed over young aspen suckers in an important aspen/hazel
wood in Tulloch to protect against grazing by deer and
sheep though I find this
work more stop-gap than really positive when a temporary fence would allow a
new wood of a few hundred new trees to become established rather than just one
here and there. Slowly forward. Adding the wooden fence markers progressed
far enough into the month to welcome the arrival of the first cuckoos with one
male making good use of taller fence posts as perches whilst being mobbed by a
worried meadow pipit. The new trees just
needed the odd day of rain to ensure a good start in their new location,
especially as temperatures reached 220C mid-month.
Adjacent to the new aspen planting plot are two mid-aged
aspens on RSPB ground where two wooden fenced plots had been installed to allow
natural sucker regeneration, though few have yet to become established. Outside these plots though, there has been a major
eruption of new sucker growth and RSPB supplied me with some tree shelters to
ensure a few of these were given a good chance to develop into mature
trees. Around one sucker I had to remove
a bit of vegetation to allow the tube to sit level with the ground and as I
moved the leaf litter a couple of small cup fungi appeared one of which I
popped into a tube to check once home. I
left the fungus for a couple of days on a glass slide to drop some spores and
then between books and the internet I arrived at the
 |
| Tarzetta scotica specimen top and spores x1000 oil bottom |
name Tarzetta (meaning
‘little cup’). The books said Tarzetta
cupularis but there was also a reference to Tarzetta scotica so I sent photos
of the fungus and the asci and spores to Brian at Kew for guidance. “If the spores are regularly 12 microns and
thinner, you should consider having Tarzetta scotica. Kew hasn’t got any recent Tarzetta scotica
specimens from Scotland (post 1950) so a specimen would be appreciated if it
turns out to be that” was Brian’s reply.
So, back to the microscope and the 22 measurements taken, were all 12µ
(micron symbol) or less so the specimen was popped in the post to Kew and was
later confirmed as T. scotica. NBN Atlas
shows just 4 UK records for this fungus and none from Scotland but the data
available to NBN might not be quite up to date.
Tarzetta cupularis on the other hand has over 300 records so quite a
nice wee find.
I get quite annoyed when I see mile after mile of road
verges cut particularly if heavily in flower at the time. Cutting at the end of the flowering period
would be better, but they get cut again then anyway! Is this management (if you can call it that)
helping our populations of dandelions?
It has been noticeable in the last few years locally that the spring
bloom of this group of plants (there is more than one dandelion) is increasing
and, in places, equalling the mass of yellow we saw on verges
in Yorkshire a
couple of years ago. Perhaps cutting
vegetation helps the dandelion by removing local competition just at the time
the plants are creating their amazing circular seed-heads. As the seed is knocked off or blown around
perhaps more of it is making contact with the ground – ideal germinating
conditions. This got me wondering about
how many seeds are produced per plant and by delving into a few books I found
that this can range from a couple of hundred to over two thousand. I also read that a field an acre in size can
produce 240,000,000 seeds if the plant population is dense. Something to think about next time you blow
the seeds from a dandelion flower-head to tell the time!
The annual surveys continued through May with the early morning
start for the BTO breeding bird survey near Grantown. The start is usually early enough for the
first of two outings to just catch the sun rising and despite telling myself
not to stop, I’m always tempted to photograph the lone birch
trees with sun
rising behind them particularly if there is a bit of mist in the area close to
the River Spey. So, once again, the
camera was out to capture the amazing scene.
The one-kilometre survey square is a mix of spruce and Scots pine plantation,
a bit of rough grazing and bog, and agricultural land either side of a minor
road. So, the species list is fairly
standard for this mix of habitats as shown below. Over the years 38 bird species have been
recorded.
|
Species
|
Early Visit
|
|
Species
|
Early Visit
|
|
Pheasant
|
4
|
|
Swallow
|
10
|
|
Buzzard
|
3
|
|
Willow
Warbler
|
16
|
|
Curlew
|
2
|
|
Wren
|
6
|
|
Redshank
|
1
|
|
Song
Thrush
|
10
|
|
Snipe
|
2
|
|
Mistle
Thrush
|
4
|
|
Woodpigeon
|
30
|
|
Robin
|
2
|
|
Great
Spotted Woodpecker
|
1
|
|
Redstart
|
1
|
|
Jackdaw
|
5
|
|
Tree
Pipit
|
1
|
|
Carrion
Crow
|
1
|
|
Meadow
Pipit
|
1
|
|
Goldcrest
|
3
|
|
Chaffinch
|
17
|
|
Blue
Tit
|
2
|
|
Greenfinch
|
5
|
|
Coal
Tit
|
7
|
|
Goldfinch
|
4
|
|
Skylark
|
1
|
|
Siskin
|
2
|
|
Sand
Martin
|
1
|
|
Siskin
|
2
|
|
Number of species 27
|
||||
The bird survey route is utilised also for a ‘wider
countryside butterfly survey’ monthly, from May until September but with a lack
of good areas of flowering plants nothing too unusual has been
 |
| Speckled wood top and narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth bottom |
recorded. Over the last three years speckled woods have
been seen showing a steady spread in-land from the Morayshire area and on the
survey on 26 May finding two narrow-bordered bee hawk moths feeding on bird’s-foot trefoil was quite a bonus. The woodcock survey was also continued by the
BTO for another year due to the decline being recorded in the number of
breeding birds in the UK and the first outing was on the evening of the 7th
and the second of three on the 24th with each count lasting for 75
minutes With sunset times downloaded
from the internet the first count started at 9pm, 15 minutes before sunset and
the second at 9.30pm and good numbers of contacts were recorded on both visits
(19 and 12) probably mostly of the same bird roding round its territory, but
also a few
sightings were two birds were seen chasing, indicating the edge of a
couple of territories. On my way in to
the count location I walk close to the River Dulnain and I was totally amazed
by the sheer quantity of flowers on the riverside bird cherry trees, I don’t
think I’ve ever seen such a profusion of flowers, hopefully an indication of a
bumper crop of berries later in the year.
As promised last month, we made a return visit to Dunearn Wood by the
River Findhorn to see which spring flowers were starting to appear and we
weren’t disappointed. Woodruff was in
flower and the fronds of oak
 |
| Mountain melic top, woodruff middle and oak fern bottom |
and beech ferns were fully unfurled displaying the
subtle green colour of new growth. An
unusual grass had me puzzled until I realised I was looking at quite a rare
grass locally – mountain melic (Melica nutans).
A good population of common wintergreen was found by a fishermen’s hut
as we stopped for lunch before making our way back towards the car. After our river walk we headed to Logie
Steading, just across the river from Dunearn but a few miles by road, to see
how their amazing garden was coming into flower. It didn’t disappoint and, as we admired a
mass of flowering honesty I noticed a wee fly with a very prominent
proboscis. Not a broad-bordered bee
hawk-moth this time but a fly I had waited a long time to see a bee-fly
(Bombylius major). Sadly, as quickly as
it had appeared it was off and there wasn’t a chance to get a photograph, so
you will need to click on the link below to see a photo. Walking back to the car we popped in to see
Giles in his antique furniture repair shop and Janet, despite saying we were
just going in to say hello, saw a beautiful pine cupboard Giles had restored
and as we said cheerio we loaded the cupboard into the car to add to the dozen
or so other chairs, tables, dressers bought from Giles over the years.
A visit to Nairn was timely as we said hello to our first
sandwich terns whilst further along the beach we were probably saying goodbye
to a couple of nicely coloured bar-tailed godwits. As we made our way back through the dunes to
the track a small, white flower caught my eye and thinking it was the
 |
| Sandwich terns top, bar-tails godwit middle and scurvy-grass bottom |
only
specimen I spent quite a while taking photos and making notes. I needn’t have bothered because round the
corner of the next dune was a brackish pool surrounded by the same plant
-common scurvy-grass (Cochlearia officinalis).
In the harbour we found starlings looking for food on the shore and
whilst we watched them we became aware of a pair of swallows landing on the
muddy shore and trying to pick up beaks-full of sandy mud and flying over our
heads to stick the mud on woodwork under the shop-front veranda. There was quite a bit of the ‘mud’ on the
pavement and we weren’t too sure they were collecting the right type of mud to
make a nest. A visit a couple of weeks
later proved us wrong. Also on this
visit the pair of mute swans that nest annually just where the River Nairn
meets the water from the sea were feeding in the harbour and proudly showing
off their family of
seven cygnets.
Despite temperatures in the 20’s in Nethy Bridge Nairn was experiencing
a ‘haar’ or sea mist; one minute there were blue skies and views out to sea and
the next everything disappeared in the mist.
Following the River Nairn back towards our car Janet spotted a couple of
impressive yellowish, scaly bracket fungus on a fallen ash tree which were later
confirmed as Dryads saddle (Cerioporus squamosus). That evening saw me heading off to do my
annual count of breeding birds on a local loch, one of my favourite outings of
the breeding season – provided the weather is okay. This year black-headed gulls were again in
residence and there was a bit of a racket as they spotted
 |
| A black-headed gull evening and an almost full moon |
me settling down to
check what was where. My best estimate
was about 300 black-headed gulls with about 70 of them on nests. A couple of water-rails were squealing, and
it was nice to see a pair of tufted duck along with the usual mallard and
teal. Redshank and common sandpiper were
seen briefly and snipe occasionally displaying overhead. As the sun began to set it was time to head
home but not before admiring an almost full glowing moon. A relaxing evening with twenty bird species
seen or heard and just time for a sunset photo as I headed back to the car
parked about half-an-hour away.
Brilliant. The following night I
was hoping for a clear sky as I’d made a note in the diary that
 |
| Full moon and Jupiter (bottom right - just!) |
the moon would
be almost full, and Jupiter would be quite close to it in the night sky. By about half-past ten the clouds had cleared
and sure enough there was the moon and close by was a brilliant Jupiter though
my camera failed to capture just how clear it was. I’m always amazed by just how quickly the
moon is moving across the sky, get the camera and 400mm lens focused on it and
centred and within a couple of minutes you have to set up all over again.
Janet has been quite busy preparing for the Aviemore craft
fairs and Nethy Bridge Spring Gathering and installing canes all over the
garden as the plants started to erupt and require support. As last year, the onion sets were installed
in their individual cells in the seed trays back in February, planted out in
 |
| Janet and craft tent and green-veined white |
late April and were all looking good by the end of May so fingers crossed for a
good crop. Orange tip and green-veined
white butterflies were seen in the garden and when moving a plant-pot a New
Zealand flatworm (Arthurdendyus triangulates) was found – and not for the first
time. This introduced species preys on
our native earthworms for its meals, so not the most welcomed guest to the
garden. The worm ended up flatter than
when I found it! A nicer find from a
similar location was a couple of leopard slugs (Limax maximus) and nice to read
that they feed mainly on fungi, dead plant and animal matter and not the veg in
the garden.
That’s it for another month, still trying to catch up!
Stewart and Janet
Rare Inverts in the Cairngorms Project
Bee-fly information
Giles Pearson
Strathspey Weather
Parkswatch
Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group
Mapmate recording database
Fungal Records Database of Britain and Ireland (FRDBI)
BSBI – Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland
 |
| A lucky encounter with a diving osprey whilst looking for orchids |
Photos © Stewart Taylor
