What a joy, as I write we have green grass, singing willow warblers and spring bursting out all over. Great, though it does mean more time outside and a slight delay in getting the diary for March written. Without one you don’t get the other! Despite the month officially being part of the winter period it was good botanically, all brought about by my favourite green shield-moss. An email arrived from the Forestry Commissions Ecologist saying that he had found a group of moss capsules on a decaying branch which had fallen from an ancient willow in Inshriach Forest, with an approximate grid reference. A week later I managed to head to the site and on the branch, counted 21 bright green capsules. Colin had also said that a couple of rock outcrops nearby might be worth visiting as they “seemed quite good for mosses and lichens”. Hmm, how could I resist having a look. The first outcrop had a few young aspen trees sprouting from its face and a few fairly standard plants, mosses and lichens. 
The second outcrop immediately started to show it was something better. Again, there were groups of young, but older aspen trees and the trunk of the first was covered with a fairly local lichen in this area (Nephroma laevigatum), something a little unusual for a young aspen tree. A crested tit calling close by reminded me that I wasn’t on a mountain, but in a pinewood. With the rock towering above me I made my way gingerly along the jumble of rocks at their base wishing I had the ability to put names to much of what I was seeing. All along the damper rock were clumps of apple moss (Bartramia pomiformis). The first hint of something special was a huge population of Peltigera britannica, and a clump of evergreen leaves/fronds of hard shield fern, hinting at the rock being a bit lime-rich. A tiny leaf with a very spiky edge caught my eye and made me think of holly fern! Hmm, if this was holly fern the site would be even more special. As is usual with me I spent a while photographing the wee plant so that I could check my photo with the flower book once I got home. I needn’t have bothered, within a few more metres I could see an explosion of fern fronds all with saw-like projections along th
eir edges (left) confirming without doubt that this was holly fern something I hadn’t seen for decades. The more I looked the more I found – brilliant. Another group of leaves looked like mossy saxifrage, confirmed once I got home, and as I was starting to run out of time and daylight I came upon a wee damp recess protected by a rock overhang, and there was another fern which had me scratching my head. It was a spleenwort but was it maidenhair or green? A closer inspection showed the base of the stem was black but the rest higher up the plant was green (right), confirming green spleenwort (Asplenium viride) perhaps a better find than the holly fern. Both ferns only grow on rock with a high calcium content, so this place was turning out to be quite special. When I got home the first thing I did was check the distribution maps (NBN Gateway) for all the species listed above, and all turned out to be new to the area, it was fairly obvious that nobody of note had checked out the site previously. Hopefully I will have tempted a few of the plant, lichen and moss experts to see what is “really” present at this amazing site. 
The second outcrop immediately started to show it was something better. Again, there were groups of young, but older aspen trees and the trunk of the first was covered with a fairly local lichen in this area (Nephroma laevigatum), something a little unusual for a young aspen tree. A crested tit calling close by reminded me that I wasn’t on a mountain, but in a pinewood. With the rock towering above me I made my way gingerly along the jumble of rocks at their base wishing I had the ability to put names to much of what I was seeing. All along the damper rock were clumps of apple moss (Bartramia pomiformis). The first hint of something special was a huge population of Peltigera britannica, and a clump of evergreen leaves/fronds of hard shield fern, hinting at the rock being a bit lime-rich. A tiny leaf with a very spiky edge caught my eye and made me think of holly fern! Hmm, if this was holly fern the site would be even more special. As is usual with me I spent a while photographing the wee plant so that I could check my photo with the flower book once I got home. I needn’t have bothered, within a few more metres I could see an explosion of fern fronds all with saw-like projections along th
eir edges (left) confirming without doubt that this was holly fern something I hadn’t seen for decades. The more I looked the more I found – brilliant. Another group of leaves looked like mossy saxifrage, confirmed once I got home, and as I was starting to run out of time and daylight I came upon a wee damp recess protected by a rock overhang, and there was another fern which had me scratching my head. It was a spleenwort but was it maidenhair or green? A closer inspection showed the base of the stem was black but the rest higher up the plant was green (right), confirming green spleenwort (Asplenium viride) perhaps a better find than the holly fern. Both ferns only grow on rock with a high calcium content, so this place was turning out to be quite special. When I got home the first thing I did was check the distribution maps (NBN Gateway) for all the species listed above, and all turned out to be new to the area, it was fairly obvious that nobody of note had checked out the site previously. Hopefully I will have tempted a few of the plant, lichen and moss experts to see what is “really” present at this amazing site. 
Frogs and toads have been very obvious this month with the usual carnage on the road into Nethybridge and along the road by Loch Garten, involving mainly toads. I found my first frog on the move (left) on a visit to Abernethy on 3 March the same day I saw a tussock of cotton grass in full flower. A few days later Bruce, our neighbour said I should see his wee garden pond as it was full of croaking frogs and would I like to 
photograph them. Having sat, no, knelt for over an hour doing something similar at a pool in the forest I thought this was too good an opportunity to miss, no carrying of heavy camera bag and tripod for miles and I could sit on a wee stool to boot! So in relative comfort, I sat for an hour watching about 25 frogs cavorting around setting about producing the current season’s crop of frogspawn (right). Another couple of days later I was at the Osprey Centre advising about tooth fungi location so that a seat coul
d be installed without damaging known sites and the first thing that greeted me as I set off up the track was a “paired” set of toads heading ultimately I would guess, to Loch Garten. Before reaching the Centre another 6 toads were encountered.
photograph them. Having sat, no, knelt for over an hour doing something similar at a pool in the forest I thought this was too good an opportunity to miss, no carrying of heavy camera bag and tripod for miles and I could sit on a wee stool to boot! So in relative comfort, I sat for an hour watching about 25 frogs cavorting around setting about producing the current season’s crop of frogspawn (right). Another couple of days later I was at the Osprey Centre advising about tooth fungi location so that a seat coul
d be installed without damaging known sites and the first thing that greeted me as I set off up the track was a “paired” set of toads heading ultimately I would guess, to Loch Garten. Before reaching the Centre another 6 toads were encountered. It happened! The “lambing snows” arrived mid-month, with 10” falling over-night and posing a few travel problems for a couple of days. For a second year in succession a school bu
s, complete with pupils left the B970 road, just before the Loch Garten turn off. Not sure why as we drove past the same spot fifteen minutes earlier and the road seemed fine. Perhaps driving a little slower would help! The snow ensured I stayed in doors for a couple of days finalising a talk on tooth fungi for the Highland Biological Recording Group AGM a week later. Ironically, the same talk should have been given last November but the AGM had to be cancelled because of SNOW! Wood was also cut for making new trellises for around the chalet. A brilliantly sunny day on 18th saw the snow start to melt but I also saw the potential for a nice Cairngorms sunset photo, the only trouble being the best location would be at Rynettin, a mile up into 
the forest from Forest Lodge. As I drove up the track towards the Lodge I wasn’t too sure that I had made a sensible decision, eight inches of remaining snow in Nethybridge developed into a foot or more by the track at Forest Lodge. Leaving the car, with full camera gear on my back, I set out up the track to Rynettin, the first person since the snow to walk this track, not what you need when you are also running a bit late. To compound the problem the clear blue sky which had tempted me out on this journey had also started to cloud over. Nothing ventured nothing gained so I plodded my way through the snow up the hill to Rynettin. To the north, behind me, the hills were bathed in the light of the setting sun, the Cairngorms when I reached Rynettin on the other-hand, were half covered in low cloud! As I hung about, cooling down, a tiny patch of sunlight 
appeared on the slopes of Bynack More, slowly expanding to cover most of the mountain ten minutes later – I was going to be in luck. Despite the snow a blackbird flew past to head for its roost site in a group of Norway spruces by the farm buildings. This is a rare bird in Abernethy so what on earth this bird was up to baffled me. The Cairngorms were now starting to glow with late evening sunshine (left) and with the camera mounted on the tripod I tried hard to capture the developing scene in front of me. It sort of worked but none of the pictures really interpreted what I was seeing. As the frost was developing I noticed a large full moon starting to poke its head above the horizon to the east, a setting sun and a rising moon, what an evening. As the sunlight was rapidly disappearing from the Cairngorms the moon also disappeared behind a huge bank of cloud. Help, it was six-o-clock
so a quick call was made to Janet to say sorry, but I was already late for dinner (again!) and I was still half an hour from the car, even after packing up the camera gear. As the sun finally disappeared for another day the snow covered mountains took on a sort of beautiful blue/grey colouring before they finally headed towards the darkness of night. Time to head down the hill. However, the clouds to the east parted and the full moon pops out in all its glory. Sorry Janet, but the camera bag is unpacked again and the lense pointed at the moon suspended as it was between Carn a’ Chnuic and Carn Bheadhair. And this wasn’t any old moon, this was the “super moon” the closest it had been to good old earth for 20 years a mere 221,567 miles away, not that it looked any different to me though it did help light my way back down the track to the car! As the white and yellow plants of spring started to appear it was tim
e to catch up with one of the less conspicuous species – lesser chickweed (Stellaria pallida), a mainly coastal species with just a few inland locations. One of the inland sites is near to Cromdale and travelling to see it here and the habitat it occupies might help lead to new finds elsewhere. The plant is fairly prostrate, and with tiny, petal-less flowers is very easy to overlook (right) so travelling to see it would only help with searches elsewhere. Inspired by my success in finding the wee spotty Peltigera didac
tyla lichen highlighted in the last diary I did a detour on my way back from Cromdale to visit an old disused sandy quarry near Dulnain Bridge, could lesser chickweed and the lichen be here? In many parts of the quarry the banks were still quite “mobile” and unsuitable for lichens and specialist plants to establish themselves, but the old quarry floor was quite different and, despite the vast amounts of very young regenerating birch trees, the lichen was found (left), and in quantity. The quarry also produced my first wheatear of the y
ear, lots of rabbits and a site with huge potential for digger wasps and solitary bees later in the year.
s, complete with pupils left the B970 road, just before the Loch Garten turn off. Not sure why as we drove past the same spot fifteen minutes earlier and the road seemed fine. Perhaps driving a little slower would help! The snow ensured I stayed in doors for a couple of days finalising a talk on tooth fungi for the Highland Biological Recording Group AGM a week later. Ironically, the same talk should have been given last November but the AGM had to be cancelled because of SNOW! Wood was also cut for making new trellises for around the chalet. A brilliantly sunny day on 18th saw the snow start to melt but I also saw the potential for a nice Cairngorms sunset photo, the only trouble being the best location would be at Rynettin, a mile up into 
the forest from Forest Lodge. As I drove up the track towards the Lodge I wasn’t too sure that I had made a sensible decision, eight inches of remaining snow in Nethybridge developed into a foot or more by the track at Forest Lodge. Leaving the car, with full camera gear on my back, I set out up the track to Rynettin, the first person since the snow to walk this track, not what you need when you are also running a bit late. To compound the problem the clear blue sky which had tempted me out on this journey had also started to cloud over. Nothing ventured nothing gained so I plodded my way through the snow up the hill to Rynettin. To the north, behind me, the hills were bathed in the light of the setting sun, the Cairngorms when I reached Rynettin on the other-hand, were half covered in low cloud! As I hung about, cooling down, a tiny patch of sunlight 
appeared on the slopes of Bynack More, slowly expanding to cover most of the mountain ten minutes later – I was going to be in luck. Despite the snow a blackbird flew past to head for its roost site in a group of Norway spruces by the farm buildings. This is a rare bird in Abernethy so what on earth this bird was up to baffled me. The Cairngorms were now starting to glow with late evening sunshine (left) and with the camera mounted on the tripod I tried hard to capture the developing scene in front of me. It sort of worked but none of the pictures really interpreted what I was seeing. As the frost was developing I noticed a large full moon starting to poke its head above the horizon to the east, a setting sun and a rising moon, what an evening. As the sunlight was rapidly disappearing from the Cairngorms the moon also disappeared behind a huge bank of cloud. Help, it was six-o-clock
so a quick call was made to Janet to say sorry, but I was already late for dinner (again!) and I was still half an hour from the car, even after packing up the camera gear. As the sun finally disappeared for another day the snow covered mountains took on a sort of beautiful blue/grey colouring before they finally headed towards the darkness of night. Time to head down the hill. However, the clouds to the east parted and the full moon pops out in all its glory. Sorry Janet, but the camera bag is unpacked again and the lense pointed at the moon suspended as it was between Carn a’ Chnuic and Carn Bheadhair. And this wasn’t any old moon, this was the “super moon” the closest it had been to good old earth for 20 years a mere 221,567 miles away, not that it looked any different to me though it did help light my way back down the track to the car! As the white and yellow plants of spring started to appear it was tim
e to catch up with one of the less conspicuous species – lesser chickweed (Stellaria pallida), a mainly coastal species with just a few inland locations. One of the inland sites is near to Cromdale and travelling to see it here and the habitat it occupies might help lead to new finds elsewhere. The plant is fairly prostrate, and with tiny, petal-less flowers is very easy to overlook (right) so travelling to see it would only help with searches elsewhere. Inspired by my success in finding the wee spotty Peltigera didac
tyla lichen highlighted in the last diary I did a detour on my way back from Cromdale to visit an old disused sandy quarry near Dulnain Bridge, could lesser chickweed and the lichen be here? In many parts of the quarry the banks were still quite “mobile” and unsuitable for lichens and specialist plants to establish themselves, but the old quarry floor was quite different and, despite the vast amounts of very young regenerating birch trees, the lichen was found (left), and in quantity. The quarry also produced my first wheatear of the y
ear, lots of rabbits and a site with huge potential for digger wasps and solitary bees later in the year. Regarding solitary bees I have been invited to help with an Osmia uncinata nest box project during the coming summer months so watch this space. I had my first peacock butterfly (right) on Deeside on 24th and we had a roding woodcock circling the house on 29th.
That’s it, for another month, enjoy the read. Stewart & Janet
Saviours of the countryside in action with redshank, lapwing & black-headed gulls looking on
Job done. Wader habitat destruction still goes on & this is 2011!
Parsnips are better after a little frost - not bad after 3 months frozen in the ground
All photos © Stewart Taylor
STOP PRESS. Sister-in-law Paula completed the London Marathon, today, in 4 hours and 3 minutes. What a brilliant effort and well done Paula. If you would like to help Paula’s chosen charity please visit: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=PaulaTaylor&faId=93057&isTeam=false as every little helps.
