Gorges Rule Britannica, okay!

It feels like a month where I have been out a lot but with not too much to report. The search for the pipe club fungus continued and in the end over 40 new sites were recorded and the details forwarded to the British Mycological Society (BMS) for their database. The records will eventually appear at http://www.fieldmycology.net/FRDBI/FRDBIrecord.asp?pg=6 and to search for other records go to http://www.fieldmycology.net/GBCHKLST/gbchklst.asp and type the Latin name in to the Genus search term box and click “search for genus”. This is quite a good site and for each species page you can click on a tab for NBN maps to show distribution. Still on a fungus theme, I managed to sort through all my tooth fungi records for 2008 (600+) and forward these to BMS with all my records for 2009 (770+) due to be sent shortly. The names of all species recorded over the years can be found in an earlier diary (15 Oct 2009).

The pipe club fungus search took me into many broadleaved woodlands and whilst in the beech woods I had an eye open for something the Highland Biological Recording Group had asked its members to look for – the beech leaf-gall midge (Hartigiola annulipes left). The mind boggles at what we get up to. But of course a challenge is there to be met so, looking down at the ground for fungi, my eyes were also on the look out for beech leaves with strange wee growths on their upper surface. It didn’t take long to find some, firstly in the ancient beech woods at Rothiemurchus, and then in most of the others visited in the Strathspey area. The galls were also found in beech woods at Mar Lodge on Deeside, a first for this area. As is the case with these undertakings, we are out there looking for something that is obviously fairly common but just hasn’t been searched for before. The actual midge is very difficult to see but the gall literally “sticks out like a sore thumb” and is relatively easy to see. Before this request there was one location known in Scotland so to see what has happened over the last couple of months visit http://www.hbrg.org.uk/Frameset.html and be amazed.

As the fieldfares departed the wild greylag geese arrive (as compared to the ever increasing flock of feral birds locally 400+) and can now be seen on many of the cereal fields locally. The first round of BTO Winter Atlas tetrads were visited without coming across anything out of the ordinary. Our chalet guests spotted a rare species on rowan berries in the garden mid-November, a male blackcap. The same bird(?) also turned up in another garden in Nethybridge the following day but hasn’t been seen since. A turnip field close to Lurg farm on the outskirts of Nethy was starting to attract a large number of chaffinches on 15 November along with a few twite and goldfinches and a single reed bunting. A brilliant male king eider is also currently tempting birders up to Burghead where it can be seen just off-shore along with a few scoters and long-tailed ducks. Firwood garden has also seen a big increase in bird numbers recently with frosty weather turning to heavy snow over the last couple of days. As I type and the snow falls heavily, there are 30+ chaffinches, yellowhammers, coal, blue and great tits, the odd crested tit (above), collared doves, woodpigeons, house sparrows, blackbirds, dunnocks, robins, great spotted woodpecker and a couple of pheasants in the garden searching for food. A few rooks appeared yesterday and no doubt the odd sparrowhawk will have whizzed through. Up to 5 red squirrels are also around. Brrr!

A special mention must go to Barbara, our chalet guest in early November, she has to be the first guest to clock up about 100 walking miles during her weeks stay. I staggered up and down Meall a’ Bhuachaille above Glenmore in an afternoon. Barbara walked from Firwood to Glenmore and back in the day, and nipped up the same mountain in passing!

It has been a month dominated one way or another by lichens. Oliver, the Bryophyte apprentice working at Abernethy started it off by finding Lobaria scrobiculata (left growing with green Lungwort) growing on an equally rare hazel tree above the River Nethy. We thought the lichen was new to Abernethy until I checked the map on the NBN website (below left) and was intrigued to find that it had been found close to Oliver’s site in 2001. Strange I thought, because a report bringing together all known lichen records for the reserve had been compiled by Sheila & Les Street in……….. September 2000! A quick email and I find out that Sheila & Les were involved in a survey of lichens in aspen woodland stands in Strathspey in 2001, a year after the comprehensive list was compiled. During the survey with Brian Coppins, they visited a stand of just 25 ancient aspens close to the River Nethy on the reserve when the Lobaria was found. A report had been compiled but for some reason, I had never seen/received a copy, so attached to the email was a new copy. The report was mind-blowing, the Lobaria was a minor find compared to what else was found. The survey found 65 species of lichen on the 25 aspen trees with some spectacular finds. Lecanora populicola was thought to be extinct in Britain and hadn’t been recorded for 150 years. Caloplaca flavorubescens, now very rare in Britain was found on a third of the aspens at this site making it the most populated site in the UK for this species. Arthonia patellulata was found here and at a site but a few days earlier at Insh Marshes reserve and was new to Britain but pride of place has to go to Rinodina laevigata the first British record for this species and the first time it had been recorded in Europe outside Fennoscandia and Russia. Despite the small size of this aspen relic and its remoteness from other mature stands, the richness of its lichen flora suggests a very long history of ecological continuity. The priority now is to ensure a few more of the root suckers (young trees) appearing on the site receive protection from deer grazing to ensure the aspen stand survives and increases in size.

A visit to the stand a couple of weeks ago to accurately record the locations of some key lichen supporting trees produced another wee surprise. A strange woven cocoon was found on one of the aspens, covered in what appeared to be moth or butterfly eggs. I circulated the photo to a few experts and the answer came back that it was the cocoon of a vaperour moth. In this species the female moth is flightless so that when she emerges from the chrysalis inside the cocoon she has to stay put until a male moth finds her, mates, and she then lays her eggs on the outside of the cocoon. The female moth had long gone but she had left behind a real work of art.

Oliver’s find also inspired me to revisit a steep wooded gorge near Kingussie where I had found lungwort lichens (Lobaria pulmonaria) way back in January whilst looking for green shield-moss capsules. If lungwort was there there was always the possibility of other localised species and perhaps L. scrobiculata, a lichen quite rare this far east, and anyway, an accurate count of the trees with lungwort needed to be made. This gorge (left) doesn’t have too big a stream running through it but the sides are quite steep and a bit slippery particularly when there had been a hard frost the night before. Thankfully Janet only sees the pictures of where I get too! The first patch of lungwort was found growing on an old willow and when it was time to head homeward, six willows had been found with good populations of the lichen.

In places there were good patches of a dog-type lichen Peltigera membranacea, mainly grey in colour but with very long “teeth” or rhizines on the underside of the leafy lobes (right). I was still hopeful though of one more lichen turning up and as I made my way to the stream at the bottom of the gorge something bright green caught my eye on the rock wall opposite. Visits like this are always best made in wellies so there was no problem in paddling across the stream to the other side and there in all its bright green livery was Petligera britannica, the one lichen I was hoping would turn up.

So just time for a few photos (left) and a GPS location before it was time to head back to the car. As I exited the gorge the sun was shining brilliantly in a blue but frosty late afternoon sky and the snow capped top of Carn Bán Mόr in the far distance made for a stunning sight. Red nose, rosy cheeks and a wonky knee but a brilliant day, and a few new lichen locations to boot.

Janet has also been very busy on the Harris tweed craft front with many amazing creations coming from her sewing machine along with cards of local scenes. A full day sale of local crafts at friend Sally’s house in aid of charity in November depleted her stock so another busy period ensued to make more stock for another craft sale at Rothiemurchus in aid of Trees for Life. Craft-work may have to play an important part of her life after Christmas after having had to make a life changing decision recently. Loss of pension rights since going part-time at Grantown Grammar School a couple of years ago means that she will be giving up her job early in the new year, much to the horror of the pupils she supports in the Learning Support Department. So a new year and a new dawn in her life. Watch this space.

It has been a busy year at Firwood and we would like to take this opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to all those visitors who have made the journey to Firwood Chalet in Nethybridge. It was nice to welcome those making their first visit and also great to welcome back so many regulars, now friends.

We wish you all a Happy Christmas and send our best wishes for 2010.
Janet & Stewart

Frosty sunset Loch Garten

All photos © Stewart Taylor

Hey, you missed a few!

October is that time of the year when we wave bye bye to the last of the summery things and start to get major hints that winter is on its way. The odd capercaillie on the road or track as I pedal in to work is typical in October, the last of the blaeberries, plant seeds and plant shoots to feed on on the ground before the birds transition to pine needles and bits of vegetation. Red admirals hung on for the whole month, enjoying a bit of an Indian summer mid-month. The lights were dusted off, charged and attached to the bike again preparing for the misery of pedalling up the road in the dark and descending again at the end of the day in even blacker dark. To assist with lighting the way down the track after work the bike has a set of twin headlamps, a massive 10 watt one for lighting everything up and a 5 watt one for finding the edge of the track and the major potholes. Two lamps also confuses the rare motorist approaching me on my descent – wondering why such a thin car is heading his or her way. I suppose the orange reflectors on the pedals give it away, a thin car, twin headlights and funny orange yo-yos going up and down on either side. It works though, and all the motorists slow down a bit and thankfully dip their headlights. The lighting set was new last winter after my trusty Vistalite set, which had served me well for ten years, final packed up. £70 the new set cost, half the price of the Vistalites of ten years ago, and not quite as good. The clocks went back and the lights were needed for the descent but one was off as much as it was on, thankfully there was the second one. Back to the shop went the faulty one along with the original box which had all the information and receipts inside as proof of purchase. Jenny, at Cyclelife in Aviemore looked at the box and said “You got a bargain there, those lights retail at £110!” Taylor had managed to get two for the price of one. “That’s alright then” I said “cos only one of them is working!” Water during last winter had got into the lamp and caused its failure, so it’s back off to the makers to see why something that sits on a bikes handlebars, out in the open, had packed up so quickly because of damp.

Something quite unusual also happened last month, I had a three week break from work, possibly the longest time I have been away from work since we took the children to France before the eldest started school about 20 years ago. Time off had been planned to be available to help out Ruth following the birth of Archie, and well, it was kind of hard to get back into the work mode! Anyway, looking after Finlay for a few days was great fun and I have to blame Finlay for a major bit of recording work that developed during October. On the day when Finlay was practising his camera skills (see earlier diary and photo left) on an outing to the Craigellachie NNR at Aviemore we found a strange ochre coloured, thin pencil shaped fungus growing in the grass by the path. I remembered seeing one about 15 years ago when the late Peter Orton was at Abernethy recording fungi. A photo emailed to Liz (see http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/planning/inquiry/env_FungiReportPt2BlairtonLinks.pdf for a sample of her excellent work) confirmed that it was indeed Macrotyphula fistulousus var. fistulosus, the pipe club fungus (right) and that though Roger Philips Fungi guide says it is rare, Liz suggested that it was probably overlooked and under-recorded. This appeared to be possibly the case when returning from a search of one of the bogs by the osprey nest site for Dicranum mosses, I found 3 groups of the fungus growing under birches on the Osprey Centre car park. The next day I popped into four birch woods along the A9 and it was in all of them, and a visit to similar woodland on Tulloch Moor produced the same results. Aviemore, Kingussie, Loch an Eilean visits produced more records and a hop over the boundary into Moray produced what appear to be the first records from that county. Amazing, Liz was right. A brilliant bit of mixed hazel, birch aspen wood in Tulloch produced so many records that I re-visited the site in the hope that a much rare relative M. fistulosus var. contorta might be there, and after half an hour of searching there it was, growing, just as the books say, from a one inch diameter hazel twig half buried in the ground (left). Its commoner relative grows in the same way but usually from small twigs of broadleaved trees that are fully buried in the ground, though a few can be found growing from twigs on the surface. Thanks Finlay. A bonus of this search was an amazing meeting with a none too worried roe deer which, for a few camera grabbing seconds, didn't seem to think I was so close. With fieldfares cacking over head I took off my rucksac, got out my camera and managed to take a quick photo of our brief encounter.

The warmer weather mid-October saw many of the late summer dragonflies still on the wing. At the dragonfly viewing deck by the Speyside Way Sympetrum danae the black darter and Aeshna juncea the common hawker were still on the wing on the 17 October and a few days earlier a single Sympetrum nigrescens the Highland darter was regularly resting on the decking hand-rail. The latter has been a rare beast on the reserve and something I have searched for in some of its previously recorded haunts. It would appear though, that the Highlands and Islands has lost one of its local species because the Highland darter has been subsumed into the family of Sympetrum striolatum, the common darter. It has been deemed therefore that the Highland darter is not a separate species as decreed by A. E. Gardner way back in 1955, but was, as some Odonata experts had suggested for a while, just a variety of its commoner relative. Whatever, it still remains a rare beast within Abernethy, the red males adding colour to our dragonfly fauna.

It’s October so time for an 800m high outing, not Bynack Mor this year but the Shepherds Hill above Glen More. Major engineering works a couple of years ago by the Forestry Commission created a new path from the Ryvoan Bothy almost to the summit and then from just over the summit back to Glen More. The sheer numbers of people ascending the hill on the old path was causing so much erosion that something had to be done. The old path had never been a maintained / managed path, and followed a few lines that added to the erosion problem, too steep, boggy ground etc, and whilst the new path looks new and a bit of an intrusion on the landscape, with time is should vegetate over and blend more into the hillside. I digress. This trip was to enjoy one of the best views over Abernethy and the surrounding lands from the summit hence the name Shepherds Hill or Meall a’ Bhuachaille and also to have a look for quite a rare lichen for which the hill is one of the main sites. It was a glorious day and on the way up the hill I passed about a dozen people who were making their way down. Messing about taking photos near the top it was amazing how the wind had increased and the temperature had dropped markedly so on went the light-weight gloves, woolly hat and waterproofs. But there it was, Alectoria ochroleuca (Alpine sulphur-tresses) growing out of the wind-clipped vegetation in amongst other commoner Cladonia type lichens (below). This is a lichen that is only found above 750m asl. and is mostly found in the Cairngorms. If you check the distribution map at http://data.nbn.org.uk/gridMap/gridMap.jsp?allDs=1&srchSpKey=NBNSYS0000018168 you will see it is a lichen we share with a site on St. Kilda.

The 18th October was quite a good day, Jensen Button became F1 World Champion and Beth Tweddle became a world champion gymnast and guess who the Prime Minister didn’t ring to say well done?. In the local home Derby in Lancashire it was Blackburn 3 – Burnley 2, 17 years since the two teams last met in the league. Thankfully there were no riots! The following day I fancied a wee wander on one of Abernethy’s smaller but very interesting bogs in the hope of finding a new location for the rare Dircranum bergeri moss. There were a few hummocks of Sphagnum austinii and the straggling runners of berryless cranberry, but no bergeri. It was starting to get a little dark as I left the bog and I have often thought I should devote a bit of time to checking the stumps of felled Norway and sitka spruce along the edge of the bog for the green shield-moss. I had to pass a couple of sitka stumps as I made my way back to the track and I couldn’t help myself and I bent down to have a quick look. Nothing on the first one but another nearby looked a more likely site, and sure enough there were a couple of capsules from the last growing season. I wouldn’t have mentioned this find but felt I had to due to its significance. In the last diary I mentioned a find by Oliver on a wood ant nest, which, a couple of weeks later, turned out to be the brown shield-moss and not the 100th new site for its close relative for last season. So here, at my feet, was the 100th new site for Abernethy (right) to conclude a year of searching, and on the stump next door was the 101st! Stop! Despite missing out on the 100th site Oliver’s find was however significant and a visit to the site last week showed that there were 18 brown shield-moss capsules on the ant nest, the biggest single group that has been found in the last few decades.

Way back in May I took a photo of a group of rowan trees so heavy in flower that they looked like trees covered in snow. The weather was quite kind at the time and it looked like the bees were getting on well with the job of pollination. By August I had to trim a couple of branches on the rowan in front of the chalet because the weight of the berries was bending the branches so much that you couldn’t see the bird feeders. Amazingly, none of the branches snapped under the weight and I started to look forward to the invasion of thrushes to devour the crop. The first few redwings arrived on 9 October followed on 12th by a few fieldfares but little happened in the rowans. As Julie and Neil were leaving the chalet on 30 October they reported a few of both species had been eating the berries along with a couple of bullfinches (left), but it wasn’t until a few days later that main invasion occurred. There had been a lot of fieldfares in nearby Tulloch from about the 20th but suddenly on 4 November tens of thousands of fieldfares arrived in the area and within a day the rowan tree in front of Firwood had been stripped bare and a lot of birds were starting to feed in the tree in front of the chalet. Getting my bike from the shed at 7.30am on 5th, 200-300 fieldfares (right), a few redwings and blackbirds erupted from the garden and the cack-cack-cack of fieldfares was everywhere. Getting my bike from the shed at 7.30am on 6th, nothing and the chalet rowan was still quite heavily laden with berries! Even in the wider area few birds were to be found. Why the sudden mass departure, particularly with so much food still available? Even as I type, the chalet rowan has still lots of withering berries.

So not a bad month, a new grandson, a 40th wedding anniversary, fungus guidance from Finlay and the longest holiday for ages! Brilliant.

Happy reading
Stewart & Janet

All photos © Stewart Taylor

500, 600 now 750!

The time of plenty is upon us. Spuds out of the garden, wee crab apples from a local tree, originally planted by yours truly and a huge crop of Bramley types from the old tree in the garden. The spuds only required a fork to lift them but the apples took a bit of tree climbing and a small amount of tree pruning to gather the crops. In an instant the garden apples were converted into apple pies and the crab apples into apple and rowan jelly. It’s a pity you can’t lick the screen to have a virtual taste but the jelly is a real winner, some of which has been served up with the scones for the incoming chalet guests. Mmmmm.

The long season of butterfly transects came to an end during the last week of September, 26 weekly visits covering April to September. It hasn’t been the easiest of seasons with the transect walk in some weeks making use of the few hours of sunshine in the whole week. In total 23 of the 26 transect walks were completed, 15 species were recorded and 615 butterfly contacts made. These are detailed below.

Species (Contacts) Flight period
Green-veined white (221) April-Sept
Scotch argus (136) Late July – Sept
Ringlet (115) Late June – Early Aug
Small pearl-b fritillary (28) Mid June - July
Dark green fritillary (20) July – Mid Aug
Green hairstreak (20) Late Ap – Late May
Orange tip (15) May – Early June
Small tortoiseshell (15) April & July
Meadow brown (12) July – early Aug
Small heath (11) June & July
Common blue (6) July
Peacock (5) April, May & Sept
Red admiral (5) July – Sept
Large heath (2) Late June – late July
Painted lady (2) July & Sept

(sorry, tables don't work in this package)

Some of the butterflies above (like the peacock left) were also seen outside the periods given above elsewhere in the area. Other butterflies recorded in the area during the summer were: small copper (3) and speckled wood (1).

The “Thunder in the Glens” Harley Davidson weekend happened at the end of August with more than a thousand bikes and their passengers involved. The drive past at the end of the road lasted for about half an hour as all the bikes made their way to Grantown for a rally. The high street in Grantown was closed to vehicles as the bikes were parked up for all the visitors to see and at about 3pm the bikes and riders started to make their way, in small groups, back to Aviemore for the evening dance and music. I had Finlay our grandson with me and he spent most of the afternoon waving to the passing bikes. An amazing spectacle involving quite a few “aging rockers”, lady riders and families on three-wheeled bikes, but probably not the best event when trying to save the planet!

The 4th Abernethy-wide tooth fungi survey started in the middle of August, the day after getting back from holiday and ran through to the middle of September. Tracks were walked on every available day to ensure most areas were visited before the fruiting bodies started to decay and become less easy to identify. It became apparent during the first week that some species were having a good season, particularly Sarcodon glaucopus (greenfoot tooth) a species first recorded in Britain at Abernethy in 1990 by myself and the late Peter Orton. On one track I was finding groups of 10-20 fruiting bodies every few hundred metres but couldn’t find anything at the original 1990 location, now much overgrown with deep heather. The photo left shows the two Sarcodon's found during the survey with S. squamosus left and the rarer S. glaucopus right. It is still a puzzle to me why we didn’t find this fungus before 1990 when it has turned up in many locations in Abernethy since then. An efficient coloniser? The surveys up to 1990 were quite restricted so it could have been missed, but I don’t think so.

A nice find was Hydnellum cumulatum at its original 2003 location (right). This is the fungus that I found in the woods near to Loch Mallachie in 2007 which turned out to be new to Britain, but when all the stored, dried material was checked, it was found that it had also been recorded in 2003 by Gordon Dickson of the Peter Orton team, in Abernethy Forest, near to Forest Lodge. Having found the probable original site, on the side of a small but steep-sided track-side quarry, there is every chance that I was with the Orton team and that it would have been me scrambling around the quarry that found the original specimen, passing it on to Gordon to check. Amazing. Despite the fungus being very plentiful in the woods by Loch Mallachie in 2007 and 2008, nothing appeared this year, showing the value of carrying out the wide ranging annual survey. The same fungus would also appear to be growing close to the shore of Loch an Eilean, where I first found it in 2007. I just need the experts to check the DNA of the single specimen collected to be certain. What else is there yet to be found in the tooth fungi world?

Species 2006 2007 2008 2009
Bankera fuligineoalba 24 62 130 148
Hydnellum aurantiacum 5 22 13 27
Hydnellum caeruleum 13 22 27 26
Hydnellum cumulatum 5 2
Hydnellum ferruginium 2 6 5 9
Hydnellum peckii 34 137 153 216
Hydnellum scrobiculatum 24 86 61 111
Phellodon melaleucus 13 30 36 31
Phellodon niger 9 41 23 29
Phellodon tomentosus 25 49 41 67
Sarcodon glaucopus 16 1 25 42
Sarcodon squamosus 57 19 69 59
Unidentified 12 10 3 6
Grand Total 234 485 591 773

(Sorry again)

The table above shows the results from the four years of survey, the 773 locations for all recorded species being quite a remarkable total, probably reflecting the value of re-surveying the same area over several years, and the recorder becoming more aware year by year of where species have been recorded previously.

In addition a few locations were also found for the “ear-pick fungus” Auriscalpium vulgare (right), the fungus that got me hooked on the amazing group of fungi with spines and not gills under their caps. This fungus grows on Scots pine cones buried in the ground, the one in the photo being about 2” tall.

Once all the tooth fungi records had been listed on a spreadsheet, the map references were copied over into a new spreadsheet enabling the data to be used to create a distribution map of all the species found. To me, this is one of the most amazing distribution maps I have seen for anything yet recorded at Abernethy, showing how important Abernethy is for this rare group of fungi.

And one final fungus for the diary. On 1st October Oliver, an apprentice Bryologist (Mosses & Liverworts) arrived at Abernethy to spend three months surveying and recording, to increase his knowledge and ID skills. See http://blogs.btcv.org.uk/natural_talent/2009/02/ Baffling Bryophytes. On his first outing he found a tiny green moss capsule on an ants nest (sound familiar?) which could be the 100th new location for Buxbaumia viridis – the green shield-moss, in Abernethy during the 2008/09 growing season. We just need the capsules to mature a bit more to be certain which of the shield-mosses we are dealing with. I went to photograph the find and noticed three rabbit-dropping sized fungi (right) popping out of the ground next to the ant nest. These turned out to be Cordyceps ophioglossoides, a fungus that grows on a truffle fungus growing under the ground. Two for the price of one!

Walking along the Speyside Way a few weeks ago I felt a faint buzzing coming from under my boot! I stepped back and was quite amazed to see a large horsefly, still alive, on the track. Having had my size 10 boot on it the fly looked a bit dazed and didn’t seem to want to fly away so I quickly got out the camera and took its photo. The fly is 20-25mm long and thankfully doesn’t take blood from humans! Murdo at HBRG http://www.hbrg.org.uk/ looked at the photo and supplied the name Tabanus sudeticus the biggest of our horseflies

On 27 August I had a lone whimbrel passing overhead and on 30 September the first group of whooper swans went trumpeting over the forest. Winter is a-coming. Shining guest ants were found on another 2 wood ant nests putting Abernethy at the top of the league for this rare ant in Highland Region with 5 of the known 9 sites. The pine marten was back visiting the squirrel peanut box in the evening gloom as John and Betty were sitting outside the chalet enjoying a glass of wine. The rate of loss of peanuts from the box would hint at the marten being a more regular visitor than we think. A few hours were spent putting together a talk for a “Friends of Abernethy” evening where 60 “Friends” were present following a brilliant day out on the reserve (http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/abernethy/index.asp ). It was great to meet so many enthusiastic supporters of the reserve.

Sarah’s (a friend's daughter) wedding day went brilliantly – I just need the time to sort the many photos taken at the church. The sun appeared right on cue just as bride and groom exited the church.

The lichen training day also was very enlightening though I am not sure I will ever get my head round sorting out 4 similar looking species on just six inches of a Scots pine branch. I will give it a go though with a bit more training planned in November.

Janet has also been busy with a new venture – beautifully made Harris Tweed cards. So impressed was a local lady that she asked if Janet would be willing to make some of her cards exclusively for Leukaemia Research. This she has done in the three designs as shown: the flowers are based on the Leukaemia Research logo and the wee dog is based on 'Robbie the Westie', mascot of the Badenoch and Strathspey branch. The cards measure 5" square and are blank inside for your own message. They cost £2.95 each. £1.50 from the sale of each card will be donated to Leukaemia Research. If you would like to support the charity please contact Janet at janet.taylor1@tiscali.co.uk.


Enjoy the read
Best wishes from Stewart & Janet

It's been a long season - resting by wood ant nest

All photos © Stewart Taylor

500, 600 now 750!

The time of plenty is upon us. Spuds out of the garden, wee crab apples from a local tree, originally planted by yours truly and a huge crop of Bramley types from the old tree in the garden. The spuds only required a fork to lift them but the apples took a bit of tree climbing and a small amount of tree pruning to gather the crops. In an instant the garden apples were converted into apple pies and the crab apples into apple and rowan jam. It’s a pity you can’t lick the screen to have a virtual taste but the jam is a real winner, some of which has been served up with the scones for the incoming chalet guests. Mmmmm.

The long season of butterfly transects came to an end during the last week of September, 26 weekly visits covering April to September. It hasn’t been the easiest of seasons with the transect walk in some weeks making use of the few hours of sunshine in the whole week. In total 23 of the 26 transect walks were completed, 15 species were recorded and 615 butterfly contacts made. These are detailed below.

Species
Contacts
Flight period
Green-veined white
221
April-Sept
Scotch argus
136
Late July – Sept
Ringlet
115
Late June – Early Aug
Small pearl-b fritillary
28
Mid June - July
Dark green fritillary
20
July – Mid Aug
Green hairstreak
20
Late Ap – Late May
Orange tip
15
May – Early June
Small tortoiseshell
15
April & July
Meadow brown
12
July – early Aug
Small heath
11
June & July
Common blue
6
July
Peacock
5
April, May & Sept
Red admiral
5
July – Sept
Large heath
2
Late June – late July
Painted lady
2
July & Sept

Some of the butterflies above were also seen outside the periods given above elsewhere in the area. Other butterflies recorded in the area during the summer were: small copper (3) and speckled wood (1).

The “Thunder in the Glens” Harley Davdson weekend happened at the end of August with more than a thousand bikes and their passengers involved. The drive past at the end of the road lasted for about half an hour as all the bikes made their way to Grantown for a rally. The high street in Grantown was closed to vehicles as the bikes were parked up for all the visitors to see and at about 3pm the bikes and riders started to make their way, in small groups, back to Aviemore for the evening dance and music. I had Finlay our grandson with me and he spent most of the afternoon waving to the passing bikes. An amazing spectacle involving quite a few “aging rockers”, lady riders and families on three-wheeled bikes, but probably not the best event when trying to save the planet!

The 4th Abernethy-wide tooth fungi survey started in the middle of August, the day after getting back from holiday and ran through to the middle of September. Tracks were walked on every available day to ensure most areas were visited before the fruiting bodies started to decay and become less easy to identify. It became apparent during the first week that some species were having a good season, particularly Sarcodon glaucopus (greenfoot tooth) a species first recorded in Britain at Abernethy in 1990 by myself and the late Peter Orton. On one track I was finding groups of 10-20 fruiting bodies every few hundred metres but couldn’t find anything at the original 1990 location, now much overgrown with deep heather. It is still a puzzle to me why we didn’t find this fungus before 1990 when it has turned up in many locations in Abernethy since then. An efficient coloniser? The surveys up to 1990 were quite restricted so it could have been missed, but I don’t think so.

A nice find was Hydnellum cumulatum at its original 2003 location. This is the fungus that I found in the woods near to Loch Mallachie in 2007 which turned out to be new to Britain, but when all the stored, dried material was checked, it was found that it had also been recorded in 2003 by Gordon Dickson of the Peter Orton team, in Abernethy Forest, near to Forest Lodge. Having found the probable original site, on the side of a small but steep-sided track-side quarry, there is every chance that I was with the Orton team and that it would have been me scrambling around the quarry that found the original specimen, passing it on to Gordon to check. Amazing. Despite the fungus being very plentiful in the woods by Loch Mallachie in 2007 and 2008, nothing appeared this year, showing the value of carrying out the wide ranging annual survey. The same fungus would also appear to be growing close to the shore of Loch an Eilean, where I first found it in 2007. I just need the experts to check the DNA of the single specimen collected to be certain. What else is there yet to be found in the tooth fungi world?

Species
2006
2007
2008
2009
Bankera fuligineoalba
24
62
130
148
Hydnellum aurantiacum
5
22
13
27
Hydnellum caeruleum
13
22
27
26
Hydnellum cumulatum


5
2
Hydnellum ferruginium
2
6
5
9
Hydnellum peckii
34
137
153
216
Hydnellum scrobiculatum
24
86
61
111
Phellodon melaleucus
13
30
36
31
Phellodon niger
9
41
23
29
Phellodon tomentosus
25
49
41
67
Sarcodon glaucopus
16
1
25
42
Sarcodon squamosus
57
19
69
59
Unidentified
12
10
3
6





Grand Total
234
485
591
773

The table above shows the results from the four years of survey, the 773 locations for all recorded species being quite a remarkable total, probably reflecting the value of re-surveying the same area over several years, and the recorder becoming more aware year by year of where species have been recorded previously.

In addition a few locations were also found for the “ear-pick fungus” Auriscalpium vulgare, the fungus that got me hooked on the amazing group of fungi with spines and not gills under their caps. This fungus grows on Scots pine cones buried in the ground, the one in the photo being about 2” tall.

Once all the tooth fungi records had been listed on a spreadsheet, the map references were copied over into a new spreadsheet enabling the data to be used to create a distribution map of all the species found. To me, this is one of the most amazing distribution maps I have seen for anything yet recorded at Abernethy, showing how important Abernethy is for this rare group of fungi.

And one final fungus for the diary. On 1st October Oliver, an apprentice Bryologist (Mosses & Liverworts) arrived at Abernethy to spend three months surveying and recording, to increase his knowledge and ID skills. See http://blogs.btcv.org.uk/natural_talent/2009/02/ Baffling Bryophytes. On his first outing he found a tiny green moss capsule on an ants nest (sound familiar?) which could be the 100th new location for Buxbaumia viridis – the green shield-moss, in Abernethy during the 2008/09 growing season. We just need the capsules to mature a bit more to be certain which of the shield-mosses we are dealing with. I went to photograph the find and noticed three rabbit-dropping sized fungi popping out of the ground next to the ant nest. These turned out to be Cordyceps ophioglossoides, a fungus that grows on a truffle fungus growing under the ground. Two for the price of one!

Walking along the Speyside Way a few weeks ago I felt a faint buzzing coming from under my boot! I stepped back and was quite amazed to see a large horsefly, still alive, on the track. Having had my size 10 boot on it the fly looked a bit dazed and didn’t seem to want to fly away so I quickly got out the camera and took its photo. The fly is 20-25mm long and thankfully doesn’t take blood from humans! Murdo at HBRG http://www.hbrg.org.uk/ looked at the photo and supplied the name Tabanus sudeticus the biggest of our horseflies

On 27 August I had a lone whimbrel passing overhead and on 30 September the first group of whooper swans went trumpeting over the forest. Winter is a-coming. Shining guest ants were found on another 2 wood ant nests putting Abernethy at the top of the league for this rare ant in Highland Region with 5 of the known 9 sites. The pine marten has been back visiting the squirrel peanut box in the evening gloom as John and Betty were sitting outside the chalet enjoying a glass of wine. The rate of loss of peanuts from the box would hint at the marten being a more regular visitor than we think. A few hours were spent putting together a talk for a “Friends of Abernethy” evening where 60 “Friends” were present following a brilliant day out on the reserve (http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/abernethy/index.asp ). It was great to meet so many enthusiastic supporters of the reserve. Sarah’s wedding day went brilliantly – I just need the time to sort the many photos taken at the church. The sun appeared right on cue just as bride and groom exited the church. The lichen training day also was very enlightening though I am not sure I will ever get my head round sorting out 4 similar looking species on just six inches of a Scots pine branch. I will give it a go though with a bit more training planned in November.

Janet has also been busy with a new venture – beautifully made Harris Tweed cards. So impressed was a local lady that she asked if Janet would be willing to make some of her cards exclusively for Leukaemia Research. This she has done in the three designs as shown. If you would like to support the charity please contact Janet at janet.taylor1@tiscali.co.uk.


Enjoy the read
Best wishes from Stewart & Janet



All photos © Stewart Taylor

Normal service will be resumed shortly

The last month has been a bit busy with several weeks surveying tooth fungi, weddings, lichen course and a "Friends of Abernethy" talk to prepare and deliver, but more about all these events shortly. One nice find just before the lichen course was this wee beauty Pseudevernia furfuracea, showing just how close lichens really are to fungi (a lichen is a mix of a fungus and an algae). The yellow "caps" or apothecia (fruiting body) are rare in British specimens making this photo a bit special.

As I type tonight, our grandson Finlay is tucked up in bed next door and as of today he has a younger brother. Mid-morning Ruth gave birth to a thumper of a baby, our second grandchild, who weighed in at an amazing 8lb 10oz, and we will all be heading to Inverness tomorrow to say a first hello. Congratulation Ruth and Sean and thanks to the maternity staff at Raigmore. Via the wonders of modern technology this photo was taken by 'a telephone' and in the blink of an eye we were able to see the wee man on our computer screens - amazing.

At just about the same time as the birth his elder brother(almost 3) was starting to follow in the footsteps of his grandad and great grandad. It's a pity that I look like a demented grand-parent, but it was quite difficult to ensure Finlay pressed the right button to take this photo. Despite that I think the result is absolutely brilliant. Honestly, this photo is one of Finlay's first, a hand held camera with no fiddles. You could go far young man!

Enjoy the mini read

Relieved grandparents Janet & Stewart

Day by day in the Uists

Sunday 2 August
Depart Firwood 07h20 'cos Janet doesn’t want to be late for the ferry on Skye. Yep, arrive Uig at 11h00, 3 hours before the ferry departs! We enjoy a walk back through the village and take a bit of a willow-herb back to the car for identification. Great willow-herb. Sandwich and coffee on picnic bench where a Frenchman with brilliant English asks where he can buy some of the locally brewed beer. Being Sunday no alcohol available before 12 noon despite there being a Skye Brewery shop by the pier. Ferry on time, amazing U-turn right by pier – I’ve seen it several times and it still amazes me – and being early we are first in queue and get on ferry first meaning first off at the other end. Doesn’t matter really as we are staying in Lochmaddy, the ferry port for North Uist. Crossing smooth, lots of shearwaters, puffins and arctic terns diving for sandeels way out to sea. Perhaps a shortage nearer to shore, no doubt hoovered up by fishing boats large and small. For the first time ever I haven’t brought my fishing gear, you just don’t catch fish from the shore any more or if you do they are very small and should be thrown back. 5pm, we are installed in the cottage full of the most amazing nick-nacks and a toaster that defies all logic! Dine, and a short walk round the village to blow away the cobwebs in a wind that is getting up to gale force. Pair of mute swans on loch opposite cottage with 6 youngsters.

Monday 3 August
Co-op shop in Solas and back for lunch at lunch at cottage. Very windy and a bit of horizontal rain. Walk to café/craft shop down road and then round a 3 mile circuit taking in a camera obscura art structure and passing a huge house, under restoration, built originally from the profits from seaweed collection. The next house has a couple of horses sheltering behind it to escape the wind, and a friendly dog comes to greet us. Meadow brown and green-veined white butterflies wizz by on the wind, and the local ginger bumblebee is foraging on the abundant clumps of knapweed flowers, the equivalent of Wordsworth’s “host of golden daffodils” a truly amazing sight, and something we haven’t seen before during our usual July visits. On the track back to the road passed by the local chimney sweep with daughter trying hard to keep water and goldfish in tank sitting on her knee! We reach the Berneray road and head back to Lochmaddy and find a nice patch of field gentians (right) growing by the drive to a house by the road. Pass signs saying the Ben Lee run and walk will be taking place on Friday, followed by a dance!

Tuesday 4 August
Janet needs a selection of Harris tweed for a new card venture (see picture) so first thing we walk down to the CalMac ferry office to book tickets for the ferry between Berneray and Leverburgh in Harris, or An t-Ob as it named on the OS maps. Lord Leverhume named the place after himself following investments he made here in the early 1900’s. See http://www.culturehebrides.com/heritage/lever/ for how the Islanders interpreted his well-meant Hebridean intentions & http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Rivington/leverhulme.html for more information. On the way back to the cottage we encountered a flock of 20 crossbills feeding on rowan berries, no doubt remnants of the big invasion that took place on the islands about mid-July. Big-billed or commons – hard to tell. And then it was off for a walk on Hosta beach, packed as is normal on these enormous beaches, with deckchairs, donkey rides and 100’s of visitors!!! Sorry, I’m being a bit silly, but unusually, we did meet two people! Strangely, no Colletes bees, but clumps of pink water speedwell & fool’s watercress had us consulting the flower books. In the evening, the skies cleared and I headed off to the road to Lochportain to look for a very local wee plant. Progress was however, very slow, stopping all along the way to take photos in the developing evening sunshine. By the time I got to the general area for the plant it was almost dark and I couldn’t find anything at the original passing-place site. Undeterred, I searched more of the roadside verge and having got used to similar looking bits of sundews and bedstraws I eventually found something very small, with opposite wee leaves and tiny white flowers and in the gathering gloom I had to use flash to record the plant, site and GPS reading to show that Allseed Radiola linoides, still persists close to its original site where it was last recorded in 1995.

Wednesday 5 August
Happy birthday brother John and wife Jill. 10h30 ferry to Harris, a bit “bouncy” in the strong winds. First visit is to weaver Donald John Mackay in Losgaintir, opposite the island of Taransay of Ben Foggel fame. A few metres of various patterns bought, photo of Donald John at his loom, and it was off to Tarbet to visit a few more tweed shops and John, ex colleague of Janet at Grantown Grammar School, who now runs one of the local shops. Then it was off down the “Golden Road” to visit Rodel Church before catching the 6.30pm ferry back to Berneray. Best sight of day was about 20 black guillemots roosting on one of the many marker buoys on route back to Berneray. Sadly, too windy and wet to have the camera and big lens out.

Thursday 6 August
A leki pole day for Stewart and an “Art on the Map” day for Janet. On the way to my drop off point Janet spotted an otter under one of the bridges on the edge of Loch Euphort. Once dropped off it was just a case of following the shore of Loch Obasaraigh for about 4km to get to the base of Eaval, one of the most prominent hills on North Uist. It looks big but is only 350m in height. Highlights of the day really, were dwarf willow on the summit and hundreds of lochs visible all around, white beaked sedge growing in a bog with lots of long-leaved sundew, common aeshna and highland darter dragonflies, the males of the latter being a wonderful red colour. I just about made the 5pm rendezvous.

Friday 7 August
A drive down to the RSPB reserve at Balranald and lunch at nearby Loch na Reivil. First great yellow bumblebee of the trip feeding on knapweed, and lots of painted lady butterflies from the big invasion late June. Janet did a few sketches while I photographed the brilliantly yellow, corn marigolds growing in the cereal crop. The massed ranks of blue knapweeds and corn marigolds in the cultivated field shows just what we have lost in many of our farmed areas on the mainland. Lunch over we headed off for Beinn a’ Bhaile, similar habitats but fewer visitors than at Balranald. The first Colletes floralis bees were seen here, or so we thought, but it was only when we got home and sent in bee records that Murdo said “Ahh, but which Colletes?” In August a second Colletes bee emerges C. succinctus, burrowing in the same sites as C. floralis, but feeding on the nearby areas of flowering heather. I should have collected a specimen from each site for a positive ID, so the 10 recorded sites for the trip can only go down as Colletes spp! You live and learn. Corn buntings and masses of painted ladyies in the dunes were worth the visit and the wee ladybird that Janet had but then lost only to emerge from her clothing when we got back to the cottage, turned out to be the 11-spot ladybird, a dune dweller. After dinner, we watched the Ben Lee hill runners (and walkers) head back into Lochmaddy in perfect weather conditions to get ready for their evening dance.

Saturday 8 August
The day we move from North to South Uist to the cottage we rented in 2008. A visit to the Irish lady’s tresses site on the way found just one flowering spike this year, already a little past its best, so the “ultimate” photo still eludes me. An “Art on the Map” stop at Nunton for coffee and a scone and lunch a little further down the coast where a wee jetty and boat create the perfect foreground for a view across the bay to the hills of Hecla and Beinn Mhor in the distance. A strange buttercup like plant growing on the shingle in the bay turned out to be celery-leaved buttercup. A quick shop at the Co-op in Creagorry was followed by fine views of a short-eared owl hunting for food as we crossed the last causeway. At the cottage at Stoneybridge we were greeted by another short-eared owl, Kate, the owner, and a bright green emperor moth caterpillar on the house wall. The peat fire was already set and within half an hour it felt like we hadn’t been away from the place. Heavy showers made it an evening for sorting the photos.

Sunday 9 August
Looks like a changeable day so we decide to stay local to cottage and enjoy a walk along the beach and through the dunes. Lots of small birds along parts of the beach with dunlin, knot, sanderling and turnstone, the last three still sporting their breeding plumage showing them to be recent arrivals from breeding grounds further north. A few more Colletes spp seen, several excavating their breeding burrows. Half an hour spent photographing this activity show this individual to be very “tatty” with ragged edges to the wings. My guess would be C. floralis for this individual though the photo of another bee elsewhere shows it to be in fairly pristine condition so possibly C. succinctus. A spider caught exiting one of the bee holes turns out to be a sand wolf spider, I’ve yet to find out if it preys on the bees. Following the track through the dunes we find a patch of rest harrow, a rare plant in this area and feeding on the flowers a great yellow bumblebee – a couple of rarities together. Photo shows bee on knapweed.

10 August
A day where Janet drops me off in the area where we found the Irish lady’s tresses last year so that I can spend the day checking out a couple of locations where the orchid had been recorded many years ago. With occasional sun, the dragonflies are on the wing with both common and Highland darters recorded, along with common blue and meadow brown butterflies. Wandering across an area of bog towards the first loch there is lots of long-leaved sundew and a small yellow flower in areas of old peat-workings turns out to be lesser bladderwort (Utricularia minor). The first loch comes in to view but a check of my GPS says I’m 500m out! I assume I’ve got the wrong setting and push on. A couple of hours searching produces two locations for the orchid, with a single plant at each site. I stop for a bite to eat and it dawns on me – I’m on the wrong loch! The error though turns out to be a real bonus, the orchid has never been recorded here before – we have a new site. I push on to the correct loch seeing black bog rush for the first time and an egg laying common aeshna. I don’t find any orchids at the loch, but I am now in a bit of a hurry to meet Janet a few miles away, and don’t devote as much time as I would normally do. I will have to return. To get to the rendezvous point I have to skirt round the end of the loch where we saw a single flower on Saturday and there in front of me are four orchids peeping out of the vegetation on the loch shore fully half a mile from our known site. A check later in the day shows that the orchid has been recorded in roughly this spot before, but not for many years. Working my leki poles like a cross-country skier I get to the meeting point with Janet - almost on time.

11 August
We spend the day around Kildonan, wandering along the shore and amongst the flowery fields and dunes. We are still blown away by the profusion of knapweed and scabious flowers and the great yellow bumblebee turns up again. Worryingly we actually meet somebody on this three kilometre long beach!

12 August
Heavy rain, and we planned to spend the day walking on Eriskay. We set off, fingers crossed. As we drive across the causeway to the island we can see a few bits of blue sky and by the time we park the car up by one of the minor roads for lunch the sun is out and all is well with the world. More painted lady butterflies, a few field gentians and yet more massed ranks of knapweed flowers. “What’s that big umbellifer – it looks a bit like celery” says Janet. I grab a bit to take back for identification. Hart’s tongue fern growing on the wall of a dilapidated building by a wee jetty is new for the area, and Janet spots a peacock butterfly by the road as we walk to the ferry pier, a scarce butterfly in these parts. We watch the ferry for Barra come and go and walk back to the car along the beach. We debate the identity of the second bird of prey over the hill behind the houses, buzzard in front but the golden head of the one behind confirms golden eagle, just where the tourist information guide says you are likely to see them! Fish and chips on the way home and it is then that I start to feel a bit odd. And the mystery umbellifer? Hemlock water dropwort – deadly poisonous, and possibly the reason for feeling a bit odd later in the day.

13 August
Our last day and we head for the Linique/Iochdar area where Hebridean Jewellery (http://www.hebrideanjewellery.co.uk/ ) have their shop and tearoom. We are not tempted, and spend the day wandering the roads and shore instead, there will be plenty of shops to visit once we get home. A strange edible plant called glasswort (Salicornia europaea agg) can be found here growing on the edge of the saltmarsh. Across the massive sandy bay the hill linked to last weeks exploits – Eaval – stands proudly pyramidal against a blue sky and white cumulus clouds. The walk round the bay takes us past a wonderfully restored thatched croft house – sadly a part-time lived in holiday home. The loch by the shop has a pair of mute swans and another brood of 6, not unusual on the islands this year, and dunlins forage on the wetter parts of the sandy bay. Round the rocky Rubha Thornais headland and we spot a patch of small nettle, something we’ve not seen before and again a new plant for this area. And then it was down the road to start to pack for tomorrows departure. Kate comes round for an hour to see what we have been up to and to let us know how the local craft initiative is going, and, she says, sit by her cottage's

peat fire!

The drive back was very wet and, despite the weather being very mixed, we left the islands with lots of happy memories.

Happy reading
Stewart & Janet

All photos © Stewart Taylor