It has happened again! A week’s holiday planned (early March) and it has started to snow. If you are thinking of planning a skiing holiday, just give me a call! However, I don’t think we are heading for the same amounts as early February.
February’s snow proved to be quite a major event. The depth of snow meant that just getting around was very difficult for several days and the heavy first fall (Firwood bird table right), then heavy frost followed by a slight thaw, more frost and a few more inches of snow had many young trees around the place bent double. Juniper bushes were laid low but in most cases the springiness of the limbs allowed the bushes to pop back up once the thaw arrived.
Abernethy is famous for its open grown “Granny” pines and branches on many of these trees, despite having seen many decades and in some cases, centuries of snow, were snapped off. Quite frightening when you are walking through the forest and, with the crack of a rifle shot, another big branch gives way and it comes tumbling down. In several parts of the forest whole trees have been brought down by snow, and these along with bigger branches created several thousand tonnes of 
fresh deadwood around the reserve. The cones attached to some of the fallen branches are being collected by local contractors to add to those collected from the lower branches to be bagged up and sent off to the Forestry Commission seed bank at Alice Holt. Once there the cones will be dried so that the seeds may be extracted, then stored until a tree nursery is looking to grow native Scots pine trees of Abernethy stock in order to meet the requirements of the Forestry Commission's grant scheme. The same crop of cones is currently feeding the local crossbills and red squirrels and come April these same cones will start to crack open on warm days, naturally releasing the seeds and via a very small percentage, the next generation of Scots pine trees.A couple of the snow damaged trees are worth further mention. The first is or was, probably the biggest and oldest willow in Abernethy. This leviathan must be a couple of
centuries old and amazingly had its photo taken standing right by me (left) on 21 January, just before the snow arrived. This photo was taken for the diary just so I could show you its knobbly beauty and massive size. Just after the photo was taken I turned to look at one of the knobbles and there staring back at me were 6 green shield-moss capsules. How had I missed them in the past? I re-visited the tree on 16 February just as the thaw was starting, to be greeted by a scene of devastat
ion: the tree was on its side toppled by the great weight of snow (right). I knew that the moss was telling me that the tree was dying but I hadn’t fully appreciated just how dead it was and how little hold the roots had within the ground. I have no doubt that some parts of the tree will carry on growing but even when it is fully dead it will probably take another century or two before the decaying tree finally turns to humus and disappears into the ground.The second tree didn’t managed to have its photo taken with me before the snow but it certainly has had many taken afterwards. This granny pine was growing on the south side of the Dell track between Nethybridge and the Forest Lodge access track in a slightly elevated position. It was
probably as old as the willow if not a bit older with many big spreading branches and a big rounded crown before it came crashing down right across the track. There is a possibility that both trees were already established in Abernethy at the time of the Battle of Culloden. If only they could tell you their secrets. Again, old age, internal decay and the sheer weight of snow brought about its demise but there will be many happy beetles when they find the tree later in the year. Unlike the willow, this tree will not sprout new growth but is now more famous in death than ever it was when it was alive. The reason for this is that RSPB were in the process of consulting with local folk, SNH and Cairngorm Park staff about its long term future – should it stay as it fell, straddling the Dell track or should it go? A few branches were removed to allow safe, pedestrian passage under the fallen tree but before the consultation process had even begun, someone or persons unknown removed more branches to allow vehicles to pass under the tree. Those consulted are happy for the tree to stay and, provided ongoing safety checks continue to show the tree is safe, it will remain as it fell and hopefully will become a feature for those folk using the Dell track, similar to the existing Weeping Pine and the Fairy Tree. Deadwood is a vital component of a healthy ecosystem. The deadwood component of Abernethy is currently about a third of that which is found in semi-nature forests elsewhere in Europe. Wherever possible trees, branches etc will be left where they fall throughout the forest to increase the deadwood component to benefit those species dependant on it. The fallen Granny pine goes a little way to meeting that objective.The thaw when it arrived was quite amazing, first real drips on 15 February and within three days it was possible to cycle most of the way to work. The rivers rose alarmingly but the River Spey managed to stay within its banks and with the reduction in snow depth it was possible to remove the many branches from county roads and internal forest tracks. As the temperature soared to eleven degrees Centigrade the first song thrush appeared, mistle thrushes started singing along with most of the residents within the forest. Lapwings, oystercatchers and curlews appeared in numbers in fields along the Spey and a couple of male capercaillie were found one morning close to one of the known lek sites. Perhaps spring has sprung? The mild weather
brought with it lots of cloud so the potential for looking for Comet Lulin was very limited. One evening though did start off quite clear and I walked up the road to a clearing in the forest close to the Speyside Way. On the way I first encountered a toad crossing the road and then several newts, all heading to a nearby pool; the first of the year. Venus was easy to find shining brightly in the south-western sky (it’s on one of its close visits to earth apparently) but when I couldn’t find the Plough I knew that cloud was building and within half an hour all things celestial had disappeared. On the way home I came across my first frog of the year so a disappointment on the comet front but a great night for all things amphibian. On 2 March I found my first frog spawn on the same day that I didn’t need my bike lights either going to or cycling back from work. Great!At the end of February I received some amazing news linking back to the tooth fungi survey way back in the autumn of 2007. From earlier diaries you might remember that in the last two years of survey work I have mentioned a mystery Hydnellum (right) found near Loch Mallachie. A first stab at identification by a local mycological expert produced the name Hydnellum gracilipes, which, if correct, would have been new to Britain. However, there are real problems in getting some of the “difficult” tooth fungi identified and a specimen from this site had been sent to a team of people at Cardiff University who are working on the DNA of the species at the centre of the problem. To
highlight the depth of this problem one of the species regularly encountered on the surveys – Hydnellum scrobiculatum (photographed and similarly named in Philip’s excellent guide) probably doesn’t exist in Britain! The biggest stumbling block in getting to the bottom of the identification problem is MONEY, the team at Cardiff seem to be working on a shoestring budget and without some funding during 2008, little progress would be made with the material from Loch Mallachie. A few phone calls and emails early in 2008 managed to get a promise of some funding from RSPB, but appeals to SNH and the Cairngorm Park folk failed to raise a penny, despite the fact that the Cairngorms National Park area holds some of the most important populations of this rare group of fungi in the UK. And then Martyn’s email arrived, the fungus from Loch Mallachie was Hydnellum cumulatum, a species new to Britain – well done Taylor. However, a fungus found in 2001 and checked by Gordon Dickson (one of our Orton team members) was also this species, and had tentatively been named as such by Gordon. So I didn’t quite manage a first but there is a chance that I would have been with Gordon and I may have even collected the fungus at the time, but we are both struggling to remember exactly where it was found! Currently there are two sites for H. cumulatum at Loch Mallachie and another small group was found at Forest Lodge, within a kilometre of the original 2001 find. Another fungus collected also in 2001 by the Orton team and sent by Gordon to Martyn, turned out to be Hynellum gracilipes another new species for Britain! This one however, hasn’t been re-found. Let’s see what the 2009 season brings. These finds really do put Abernethy Forest at the top of the tooth fungi league with 14 of the current UK total of 19 extant species recorded within the reserve.Some amazing news on the green shield-moss survey shortly but, on 1 March I actually returned to doing a bit of roving BTO Atlas work. Hugh, who co-ordinates the Atlas in Highland Region emailed to say that despite the fact that our local Ordnance Survey 10km NJ01 had had the required number of ‘timed’ visits (half by yours truly) the total number of species recorded, based on previous Atlas’s and information from BTO Birdtrack, was at j
ust 70% and would it be possible to do some casual recording in the under-recorded tetrads (2x2 kilometre squares) so that the completed Atlas gave a true refection of what should be recorded from NJ01. So, binoculars round the neck I headed out to Loch a’ Chnuic and Carn a’ Loinne. On 1 March in this part of Abernethy you are not going to see too many birds and the three hour wander produced 12 species. There was also a secondary motive for heading for this area. As part of the reserves long-term forestry plan as required by the Forestry Commission for grant applications, a list of known archaeological sites has to be provided, and this is so
mething that I have been working on at work. Within the woodland on Carn a’ Loinne a “walled enclosure” (above right) is listed and this was something I had seen in the past. What was lacking though was a reasonably accurate grid reference and the secondary objective therefore was to try and re-find the site and establish one. On the way a large cushion of Sphagnum quinquetarium in one of the wetter bits of the wood was covered in amazingly shaped capsules and right next to the walled enclosure the familiar sight of a lightning strike tree (left) came in to view. This probably dated back to the amazing storm we had in June 2007 that caused so much damage and brings to three the number of trees now found that were hit by lightning. On the way back to the track a large patch of mire had to be crossed and I came acro
ss the straggly runners of small cranberry (Vaccinium microcarpum) covering a cotton grass tussock but was amazed to see the runners still supported berries, though somewhat soft, from summer 2008. The cotton grass was also starting to grow and the new flowering heads were popping up everywhere. Fresh food for capers and black grouse.In late February I was invited to visit a small community managed woodland close to the Moniack Winery place near Beauly by Sandy and Claire to help with a search for green shield-moss sites. The day was successful and 12 sites were found, six of which had been found previously. The real highlight of the day though was the hairy decent down into the gorge of the Moniack Burn. Steep and wet under foot, trees had to be aimed for on the way down the slope to stop you taking off and ending up somewhere down near the river. On one slope of w
ellie removing soft ground, Claire asked if I knew what the impressively red cup fungus were that we were seeing all around us. They did look familiar but I couldn’t produce a name so I decided to take a photograph for checking later. We carried on checking logs for green shield-moss capsules and soon ran out of any sign of the fungus. When I got home I downloaded the photographs from the day and when the fungus appeared on the screen I got the Philip’s field guide out and found that we had been looking at, was probably Sarcoscypha coccinea, the scarlet elf cap – what a brilliant name. With any find that I am not familiar with I usually check the distribution map on the National Biodiversity Network Gateway website (http://data.nbn.org.uk/gridMap/gridMap.jsp?allDs=1&srchSpKey=NHMSYS0001497077) and when I did I was amazed to find that of the two species known (Sarcoscypha coccinea & austriaca) there were very few records this far north in the UK! I emailed the photo to Liz, a mycological expert in the hope that she could name what had been found, “did you take a specimen?” came the reply, and of course I hadn’t despite Claire suggesting that we should. Another trip would have to be made to solve the mystery particularly with something that needed to be checked under a microscope and when the location could be quite important regarding the fungus’s UK distribution. Something for the next diary particularly that a re-visit would involve a 90 mile round trip and “the specimen” would then need to be sent to Liz for correct identification.The most amazing discovery though has again involved the green shield-moss. In mid-February I had a visit from Eric from Deeside who was keen to see the moss so that he could keep an eye open for it when carrying out other surveys in his own area. The day went well and Eric did well by finding his very ow
n site whilst at Abernethy. After Eric had left and I made my way back down the Forest Lodge track, I noticed a wood ant nest set back from the track in a damp piece of woodland, I couldn’t find any moss capsules so I wandered casually towards an area of Scots pines that had died naturally many years ago. Again nothing was found. In the distance I noticed an area of felled Norway spruces (left), seventy year old trees that had been felled about 10 years ago, and left where they had been felled as part of the exotic conifer removal programme but also left as deadwood habitat. Hmm, exotics, not likely to be very productive, I was thinking but the first tree, a big tree at that, looked like it held potential, the appearance of the bark on the tree started to look quite interesting, similar to bark with capsules I had seen on other tree species. Bingo, a group of about a dozen capsules came into view and the count started. 20, 30, 50, 60, 62 capsules were found, all on the bark of the felled tree. The buttress roots of the stump of one of the other felled trees produced capsules, then another tree, another stump……… At the end of a couple of days of searching the small area of felled spruces 285 capsules had been found on 29 trees or stumps. Amazing! Is this the epicentre of the moss in Europe? And it got better.
The following day I checked out one of the known wood ant nest sites where capsules had been found during last season and there, growing next to three green shield-moss capsules was a single capsule of its close relative, the brown shield-moss (right), probably the first time that the two species have been found growing together in the UK. Currently, the latter species is the rarer or the two in the UK but unlike its relative, it isn’t a protected species and doesn’t have a Biodiversity Action Plan (http://www.ukbap.org.uk/) aimed at ensuring its future wellbeing.That’s it, hopefully the next diary will follow very shortly.
Best wishes
Stewart & Janet
rabbit tracks in the snow with Cairngoms backdropAll photos © Stewart Taylor
