Secrets of the Giant's Chair revealed

What a few weeks, with mild days, snow on high ground, culminating in a week of freezing temperatures - a real mixture leading up to Christmas. It is winter after all but thank goodness we have now past the shortest day; just a couple of months to go before I can switch the bike lights off and see a bit of the forest as I pedal back and forth to work. The garden has been busy with lots of red squirrels early in the month, I counted six one morning with a squirrel hanging from every feeder! Bird highlights of the month have been up to three hen harriers at a nearby roost, my first waxwing of the autumn in amongst a group of fieldfares and greenfinches at Rynettin just south of Forest Lodge and, perhaps the strangest bird of 2007, a Sabines gull near Ruthven Barracks at Insh Marshes. With gales at sea this gull must have been blown inland and it was making the most of the worms brought to the surface in the fields following recent floods. For a stunning picture go to Dave Pullen's website at http://www.zen107722.zen.co.uk/. If you want any help with a birding trip when on holiday, Dave's your man!


Having finished the last diary with good news regarding new sites for the green shield moss (Buxbaumia viridis), I had the most amazing weekend. A visit to a brilliant bit of woodland near Dufftown (distillery country) saw me making my first visit to the Giant's Chair, a big semi-circular rock feature created by the water flowing down the Dullan Water. A nearby waterfall could also be quite spectacular after heavy rain. Having visited the "Chair" I made my way up the steep side of the wooded valley cursing the drizzle and the slipperiness of the lush carpet of woodrush. An hour later and there, peering at me out of a large dead rowan tree was a green shield moss capsule, the first I had found away from Abernethy and a new county record to boot! Excuse the smug look in the picture but the mans just got his moss! Another couple of hours of searching however didn't find any more. Two days later and I was in Sabine's gull territory, and as I peered over the parapet of Tromie Bridge to see what the woodland was like, I heard a car go past me. Thankfully, it didn't stop because the driver, Dave Pierce, had just found the gull and was dashing back to phone Dave Pullen to let him know of his find. If Dave P had stopped, my brilliant weekend might have ended there because he would have told me about the gull and I am sure I would have dashed off to see it. But he didn't, and I hopped over the fence and started to follow the River Tromie, checking all the dead trees along the way.



And it happened again... with not one, but three moss capsules peering out at me from the base of a big dead alder tree. Brilliant, a new log and another new site! The rest of the wander was unproductive and a re-visit to the opposite side of the river a couple of days later failed to find any more. Three capsules from eight hours of searching - the moss still retains its rarity tag. Two further patches of woodland have been searched since then with nothing found.


The second visit to the glen was not without its reward though. To get to my start point I had to cut across a hill with a scattering of birch trees and a carpet of blaeberry. By a dead birch branch something orange caught my eye and a closer look revealed a single, finger-like fungus growing out of the ground. It looked similar in form to the black fungi I had seen in August, the ones that parasitise truffle fungus under-ground. A photo was taken along with a GPS reading in case it was unusual. The photo was sent to a colleague who informed me that I had found Coryceps militaria or Scarlet Caterpillar club. The English name gives a clue as to the life-cycle of the fungus - it's a parasite on caterpillar larva or pupae. It's not a species that appears on the 600 species Abernethy list so not one that I have had a chance to see before. It's not particularly rare so one for you all to keep an eye open for when you are out and about.


One of the other woods visited is on the River Findhorn as it flows east from Tomatin, close to a few houses at a place called Ruthven. With two cars, there is a classic walk along the Findhorn from Ruthven, via Shenachie to Drynachan where the second car is needed to get you back to the first! The Findhorn is a well known salmon river and I wasn't surprised when I came across a couple of "spent" male fish, washed up dead on the bank of the river. The fish pictured is just three-foot long, calculated by measuring the length of my diary and multiplying up. Rather than me trying to explain what happens to these great fish whilst in our rivers I attach a part write-up below, from the Tay Fishery folk. Interestingly, neither fish had been eaten, despite there being otter tracks nearby, and ravens overhead.

"When salmon arrive from the sea they are strong powerful fish packed with energy gained during their marine feasting. At that point they are bright silver in colour and look in the peak of condition. However, in freshwater, the salmon do not feed. Their entire upstream migration and eventual spawning, a process which might take months, is dependent on accumulated fats in their bodies. Not surprisingly, over time the fish do change. They do gradually lose condition and reserves are converted into eggs or milt (sperm?). At the same time the appearance also changes. The silver colour disappears and they develop darker colours. Male salmon become quite red and females usually a dull brown. Males also develop a hooked lower jaw, known as a kype (see ST picture left)which is used in fighting other males over mates. After spawning has been completed the salmon are a poor shadow of the pristine fish which left the sea months earlier. They are now known as "kelts" and are emaciated and sometimes battered and infected by fungus. Unlike most of the Pacific salmon, Atlantic salmon are not all doomed to die and can potentially live to spawn again, though most do not. After spawning, female salmon quickly shy away from the spawning areas and move down river trying to conserve their energy. On the other hand males remain active, racing about the stream hoping to find other mates. There is therefore a high death rate of males in the aftermath of spawning but a much higher survival rate for females." (From article by Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board, full article at http://www.tdsfb.org/salmon-return.htm ).

At Shenachie, apart from the old settlement, there is an unusual mechanical 'device' - a rope or bucket bridge. I don't think you see too many of these devices nowadays, but on this stretch of river there are two of them, one here, and one at Drynachan. Looking at the Shenachie 'bridge' you can see it is very modern and up to date and probably has to be with the Health & Safety Executive looking over your shoulder! The last time I saw the Drynachan 'bucket' it was a wooden affair and not looking like a piece of equipment I would like to trust my life with. However, this 'bucket' looks very new and shiny with its aluminium construction, and would appear to be in working order. To get across the river however, you do need the handle or key so that you can wind yourself across. A great idea which no doubt can save the estate staff many miles of vehicle travel. The map below shows where to see this unusual method of getting across the river.

Not to be outdone the visit to the River Tromie also produced a couple of surprises. On my first visit I noticed a patch of mature aspen woodland on the opposite bank, which, on my second visit I was able to have a good look at. There are plenty of young trees appearing from the mature tree roots (suckers) but the mature trees are quite old and show all the characteristics of this age, trunks well covered with mosses and lichens and, jutting out from several of the trees, the main cause of death in aspens - a bracket fungus by the name of Phellinus tremulae. This fungus is found in nearly every mature stand of aspens that I have visited but, amazingly, it was only added to the British list about a decade ago when it was identified at Insh Marshes. Very close to the aspen stand the river is running in quite a deep gorge and it was only when I descended the bank to look at a piece of dead aspen close to the side of the river that I realised there was a huge lump of rock sitting in the middle of the river. Rocks like this perched on hillsides, are known as erratics, and have links going back to the last Ice Age. I'm not sure whether rock in rivers have the same impressive name but they are certainly impressive to look at. To read more about erratics go to:

(http://www.fettes.com/Cairngorms/glacial%20erratics.htm).



The temperature last night managed to get down to -12 deg C and all around trees, sheds, fences are all covered an a thick layer of ice crystals, so much so that it looks like we have had snow. Winter wonderland for sure with clumps of grass like the one pictured glistening as though covered with diamonds.


However, the forecast for Christmas is for milder weather and wind and rain - we shall see.


Well, that's it, something for you to read over Christmas. Enjoy.


Stewart & Janet

Have a very happy Christmas and our best wishes to you all for 2008

All photos © Stewart Taylor

Full moon encounter & Happy Birthday to Janet & Finlay

As the days have got colder and shorter a few more birds are coming into the garden. There are more than ten collared doves, plenty of coal, blue and great tits with an occasional evening visit from long-tailed tits. Blackbird numbers have increased and we have had regular visits from one or two crested tits. The first regular woodpigeons are dropping in to finish off the corn and barley that other birds don't seem to like and the sparrowhawk is a regular "flash" through the garden. The population of red squirrels also seems quite high with four or five regularly at the feeders. Wintering geese have arrived with five-hundred on the fields locally last week and blackbirds and woodcocks encountered by the road whilst cycling in to work in the half-light indicate winter arrivals. A group of waxwings were also seen in the forest between Forest Lodge and Ryvoan Bothy at the weekend - the first locally. The first round of 'timed' BTO Atlas visits have been completed but the lists of any bird, anywhere at any time are still being completed because they all count. Go to http://www.bto.org/birdatlas/ if you would like to help.

Daughter Ruth entered a local Highlands and Islands Enterprise "Dragons Den" in November - and won! the competition prize money going towards getting a new local business off the ground. Here she is receiving her prize from Angela Stewart a previous winner and one of the 'Dragons'. Ruth is keeping details of her business under her hat for now, until it gets off the ground. Exciting and well done!

Also during November Ruth's wee man Finlay celebrated his first birthday, inviting us all to a lunchtime meal in a local pub. We enjoyed the meal and Finlay looked somewhat terrified when the birthday cake, complete with dazzling sparklers appeared on the table. As grandparents we can sometimes help out with typical grandparents' roles and one such day saw myself and Janet wandering into Aviemore with Finlay 'wedged' in his pram - we couldn't fathom out how to get all the restraining gear for waist, arms and chest to connect correctly! We are booking in for a course of pram Health & Safety lessons! In the centre of Aviemore we visited the recently unveiled statue (by Seb Coe no less) dedicated to the high number of local folk who have made it to the Olympics. In the picture the statue looks really impressive whilst in reality is quite small, but it's there for all to see, within its own space, next to the Cairngorm Hotel. The most high-profile Olympian locally at the present time is Craig Maclean - a cyclist of course!

Whilst at the statue it was also lunch-time so a quick butty for me and Janet and a jar of something tasty for Finlay, hopefully taking inspiration from the wee bronze folk next to him. I couldn't help but include this picture, complete with food that hasn't quite yet been consumed!

The last few weeks have seen much time spent with my head in the Latin clouds. Thirty plus years working at Abernethy has seen lots of information gathered on all things natural history. Every time I had the opportunity to get expert help I grabbed it and lists of species from bugs to beetles and mammals to moths accumulated. Over the years I gathered lots of information by myself just by being out and about, counting birds, running a moth trap, walking butterfly and dragonfly transects etc, but the really big lists of beetles and fungi came via the experts - all volunteers I might add. Over the years the lists grew, 900 beetles, 600 fungi, 100+ lichens amounting in time to over 3500 identified species. Paper lists moved to computer lists but now the computer lists need to be moved over to a one-stop-shop database so that reserve staff, Society staff, mycologists, bryologists etc can have access to what has been found on the reserve. The big list moved over last week was the fungi list, 600 species but 8100 records, each with its own location and date. Do the last two categories matter I hear you ask? Well yes they do, because if one part of the forest starts to show it is important for fungi, then this needs to be taken into account if management work is planned for that area. The importance then grows if the same bit of forest is also good for beetles and mosses. With modern software, once this information is on the database then distribution maps can be produced, again helping with management planning. The maps above show how well gathered information can be used, the top map of the two was produced from the 500 locations recorded during this summer for the tooth fungi written about in earlier diaries. Sorry this isn't easily readable but the dots show how the information can be displayed and shows the important tracks for these rare fungi.

On 24 November I nipped up to Strathpeffer for the AGM of the Highland Biological Recording Group (http://www.hbrg.org.uk/), the next resting place for the records mentioned above. Once the money and committee matters had been dealt with David Genney from SNH gave a very interesting talk on mosses, lichens and fungi - the lower plants. Try typing his name into Google where you will see a bit of what Dave is involved in. As he talked, my eye was also on my watch because this was also full moon night, with the full moon in Perigee, the closest the moon gets to the earth during its lunar orbit so it should be as big as it gets when viewed in the sky. In truth this doesn't actually make it much bigger when you see it! However, it was worth dashing down the road for and it didn't disappoint, though it is always difficult to get the moon to look round and clear and not slightly blurred because of the longer exposures required to take the picture. Anyway, a couple of pictures included for your delectation.

One of the moss species Dave was enthusing about in his talk was the beautiful wee green shield moss Buxbaumia viridis a species mentioned in the last diary. I am not a Bryologist and can only name a few mosses, but this moss is very obvious when you see it though it is very rare. People have been doing some serious searching for this moss since 1999 because there were so few records, with the few records coming from just a handful of sites. A site in this case is a reasonably sized decaying log, left to decay in situ where the dying/dead tree fell. Scots pine, birch and rowan being the main trees at the known sites. More searches in 2003 found a few more logs bringing willow and alder logs into the host species list, and the number of moss capsules nationally was thought to be 20-30. The capsule itself is about half an inch high and it can usually be found where the log is in the latter stages of decay. The log needs to also be moist otherwise it becomes dominated by lichens with which the moss can't complete. The moss can also be found growing out of other mosses growing on the decaying log, so you're looking for a green capsule growing with green mosses - no problem then! A couple of logs were found with the moss within Abernethy Forest in 2004 and I managed to see my first capsule in January 2007 growing at one of the known log sites. In fact when I looked carefully, there were actually five capsules popping out from a light dusting of snow. This log is shown right, minus snow, and with gardener's labels showing roughly where the capsules are growing. You can see from the photo the large size of the log and the advanced state of decay required for the moss to grow. The damage to the log has probably been caused by deer jumping over it. At each site a photo like this is taken along with a close up of exactly where the capsules are and a GPS reading taken to give the exact map reference for anyone else needing to find the site. The real mystery about this moss is why it is so rare when each capsule is capable of producing several million spores when the capsules ripen and explode in May/June time. By February 2007 I had checked out all the known log sites and had seen about 20 capsules. I then started to look elsewhere within the same river system and was over the moon when I found my first 'new' log, where after a half hour search, found four capsules. Within the next hour and as it was starting to get dark, I found two other logs with nine more capsules. Interestingly, all of these logs were dead alder trees, and the Buxbaumia capsules were growing out of the moss covering the log and not from typically sopping wet logs which were falling apart. Hmmm. A couple of days later I was back, same river, with a days walk ahead of me to get back to where I could get picked up by Janet. Five hours later, sore back, sore knees and knuckles from crawling around looking at dead logs, and I had found five more sites - one Scots pine and four alder - and another twenty capsules. By March the total number of known sites had grown to 21 and 76 capsules had been seen, however, slugs where now on the move and at some sites were probably responsible for the capsules disappearing.

As I mentioned in the last diary, I found my first 'new' capsules a few weeks ago and this spurred my on to start looking a lot earlier this year. At one site (left) there was evidence of there having been about twenty capsules. At the time of my first visit there were fifteen capsules and eight stalks where capsules had probably been eaten. It's not the best picture but there are still ten capsules growing and they are all within the picture left. To date, eight new logs have been found and so far, 115 capsule have been seen. Watch this space. The challenge now is to find more logs and capsules away from the single river system I have been working in. Eight other sites were visited back in March and nothing was found.

Happy birthday Janet, welcome to the bus pass league, and to working a few less hours at the school. However, it won't be feet up time as Janet has now started a small eBay business putting her extensive sewing skills to good use to produce a range of hand-made products - to view go to eBay My World: janet-gardencottage and see what she is getting up to. The Christmas stocking right is just one of many beautifully made products.

Neither did she have a quiet birthday as daughter Laura was involved in a house move and we were third and fourth hands in helping with the move as well as providing one of the vans to carry the house contents. After two days of van filling, driving and van emptying we both realise we are getting too old for this sort of 'quiet weekend'. The efforts on Friday took place during heavy rain but Saturday and Sunday turned out frosty and sunny which allowed me a little time in the mornings to do a bit of roving Atlas bird recording in completely new areas. A nice coal fire, in a beautiful house with good food and a glass of celebratory champagne helped relax everyone and as we tried to keep our eyes open Blackburn Rovers popped up on Match of the Day and WON!

That's it for another diary, enjoy the read.

All the best

Stewart & Janet

The removal team - Stewart, Janet, Douglas and Laura... Pickfords eat your heart out

All photos © Stewart Taylor