Firwood Cottage, Nethybridge: Re-visit aspen trees in Caloplaca search

The end of December a year ago was a time of great secrecy before a night of celebration, and as the newspapers hit the shops with details of this year’s New Years Honours recipients, I was all so aware of the excited phone calls that would be bouncing around the UK and further afield as those honoured made contact with friends and family. Sir Wiggo claimed top spot on most of this year’s media front pages whilst the list of those honoured for “just doing what they do” covered a few pages inside. It was quite humbling to see those ordinary and famous folk being awarded the MBE bringing home the enormity of being listed as one of those honoured just a year ago. What an exciting summer all those recipients have ahead of them as they await the details of when and where they will receive their awards. Well done to all.

At the start of December the Highland Biological Recording Group held their AGM in Strathpeffer, and despite the threat of snow (see Ben Wyvis on the day left) the journey was made and fellow members met and chatted with. It was great to meet up with Brian and Sandy Coppins again and very timely that a couple of recent lichen finds could at last be correctly identified. After the business part of the meeting Prof. Bruce Ing gave an excellent talk on those

strange “growths”, slime moulds! See
http://www.buteman.co.uk/news/local-headlines/fungus-experts-pay-survey-visit-to-bute-1-2527559 for a little more information on Bruce. Bruce left an open offer to send any fruiting slime moulds to him for identification so watch this space as the new growing season gets underway. Before heading off to the meeting I helped Janet set up her stall at the last Farmers Market of the year, also managing to get back in time for the dismantling session. Once all the sales goods were back home, Janet set up a “wee shop” in the Firwood chalet in the hope of attracting a little passing trade in the run up to Christmas, a successful initiative before the chalet was returned to normal for an influx of family

members for the Christmas break. A few days later the overnight temperature dropped to -10 degrees C but by early morning had risen to zero. The lower temperatures though did bring the first lying snow of the winter and a morning spent looking after grandson Archie allowed Grandad to try his hand at creating a snowman and before too long something resembling a snowman was constructed, complete with pieces of coal for eyes and a carrot for the nose. A more difficult task was chipping away the frozen snow on the track to the house to allow the steep incline from the road to be negotiated safely. Brrr!

Mid-month was Christmas tree time and a search under a couple of power-line way-leaves on RSPB land provided something suitable, the first “real” tree we have had for a couple of years now being the proud owner of one of those artificial jobs. However, with a big family gathering due over Christmas, the real thing was needed in one room with the artificial job in another and by next day both were installed and made resplendent with lights and

decorations. Around the same time, 13-15th December, was also meteorite time with the Geminids shower reaching its peak. With heavy cloud on 13th and 14th it wasn’t until the 15th that there was any chance of watching the night sky, and even then, it was between bouts of cloud. The part of sky to watch was facing east, find (PHOTO left, Taken by Dennis Sharrod © on Dec 14 2012 in America facing due east at 01.29am) Orion’s “belt”, and watch the general area to the left of the “belt”. At 10pm I wandered up the road and within five minutes saw my first streak of light as a small meteorite was just about visible. Over the next fifteen minutes three small and two large meteorites were seen and just as I thought it was time to get the camera set up, in rolled

the next batch of cloud, and that was that. You can see a few photos at http://www.weather.com/news/geminid-meteor-shower-20121214 . A celestial event though was captured on Christmas Eve when a check of the sky in the early evening showed an almost full moon, high up in the sky, surrounded by a bright halo. After a few attempts at a long exposure with no halo to be seen in the photos a shorter, six-seconds one did the trick and the halo finally appeared. Also captured in the photo is Jupiter, seen to the left of the moon and within the halo. Halo’s around the moon are a sign of thin cirrus clouds drifting high above our heads and supposed to be an indication of nearby storms. None materialised.

With the end of the year bearing down during the month there was a big push to sort out my last few records and enter all the details into my copy of a biological recording database called MapMate (http://www.mapmate.co.uk/ ). During the year many hours were spent undertaking this task as many

records have their own unique location requiring quite a bit of time to create new sites as well as enter all the relevant data (see entry left). 2522 records were entered, from a single record of the wee mite Acalitus longisetosus found on birch leaves through to six records of Zygaena filipendulae, the six-spot burnet moth. Once entered, the records can be sent as synchronisation files to other users so that all data can be added directly to another users database. My database currently holds nearly 99,000 records, comprising mainly RSPB Abernethy records. Why spend all this time entering my data? To me it seems pointless wandering the country recording species if details of each record just sits in my notebook or PC. All the RSPB Abernethy records were sent to the reserve, all the lichen records to the British Lichen Society, dragonflies to the British Dragonfly Society and the whole set of records for the North of Scotland to the Highland Biological

Recording Group. Most records then find their way to the National Biodiversity Network Gateway (NBN) so that they can be displayed as dots on maps (see http://data.nbn.org.uk/interactive/map.jsp?srchSp=NBNSYS0000019311 for records of Lobaria pulmonaria for instance). By clicking into the map with your mouse you can zoom in on your area of interest (left click, hold and draw box) where you can then see the records in more detail. Consulting these maps lets you know if your record could be new to the area where you found it – a great system. Try it for Vulpicida pinastri right. All my records are entered onto NBN by species experts so a check is made on whether a species I have recorded is likely/expected from the area in which it was found. If not, the expert will query the record with me before adding it to NBN.

So, what was I looking for during December? Meeting up with Brian Coppins set me off on a single species search, whilst recording other things along the way. During a major survey of aspen wood lichens in Strathspey in 2001, he found a lichen on the bark of some trees in one of the woods visited, which, in UK terms, was quite rare, and so impressive was the population of Caloplaca flavorubescens (left) it was classed as

the biggest in the UK. That wood happened to be in Abernethy Forest and despite having visited the wood, I didn’t know quite what the lichen looked like and may or may not have seen it. The Caloplaca group of lichens contains many species that look very similar and on my visit I was very new to lichen identification and didn’t, at the time, have the where-with-all to check microscopically, difficult species being encountered. Following on from the 2001 survey, Brian had also found a second, even bigger population on a group of aspens on Rothiemurchus Estate, and when he asked if I had been seeing anymore during my own aspen wood visits, I had to admit that I wasn’t sure what I should be looking for. To help rectify this I was given the location of the second aspen wood and after a brief visit, knew exactly what to look for, though care would be needed as another very common lichen, Xanthoria parientina, also grew on the same trees! The first place to visit

would be the group of about 20 mature aspens in Abernethy and with the offer of a lift from Richard, to save time, I headed out at the first opportunity. This group of trees, about half a mile from the nearest track, are hugely important in UK terms but the sad thing is that some are nearing the end of their lives, and in recent winter snows, five of the twenty trees have fallen over. During the 2001 survey two lichens were found that were new to the UK, plus three Red Data Book species and eleven nationally scarce species. It was here that I first saw the script lichen, Schismatomma graphidiodes, one of the RDB species, and since seeing it here I have gone on to find it in many more aspen woods. On my way to the aspens I passed through several stands of juniper bushes and, casually checking them for galls I saw what I thought was the more compact of two similar species growing in needles on the tips of stems (left). I was correct, and it turned out to be a first for Abernethy -

Oligotrophus panteli – sorry about the name! I just love the approach to this group of aspens, nothing visible until you reach a steep slope and then suddenly, there they are, all branches pointing skywards (above right). Sadly, since my last visit three more trees are now on their sides and as I checked the first one I needn’t have worried about finding Caloplaca flavorubescens, it was everywhere, on tree trunks, on branches and even on dead branches. The Rothiemurchus site might have more individual trees with the lichen but I feel sure the Abernethy site has more, bigger, well established lichens. And what was the other lichen in great profusion (right) – Pannaria rubiginosa, a species I didn’t remember from my earlier visit (though my notebook told me differently), the biggest reserve population of

this rare Abernethy lichen. A very positive surprise was seeing that reserve staff had been busy and several deer exclosures had been erected in and around some of the aspens. Originally, when this proposal was put forward to the Forestry Commission and Scottish Natural Heritage, they were unhappy with the suggestion of fencing off the trees to allow natural regeneration (from suckers growing from the established trees roots) because of the possibility of bird strikes, particularly capercaillie and black grouse, so the compromise was the series of smaller, wooden exclosures (left). The height of the wooden fences was three to four feet and the size of each plot was such that deer would be reluctant to jump into them, so, thankfully, protection at last.

However, the need to get new trees established is urgent and I have suggested that a few young trees, currently growing in the reserves tree nursery and originating from this aspen stand, be planted. A great visit, and with daylight fading it was time to set off on the couple of miles back to the car. A bonus was a group of 8 waxwings feeding on berries in a patch of juniper. Brilliant.

The Christmas family gathering started on the 21st with the arrival of John and Jill, perfectly timed as I had just finished the last diary. Visits to say hello to daughters Laura and Ruth were made before Peter, Paula, Abbie and Lucy arrived on 24th. Present opening on Christmas Day was delayed until Ruth, Lewis and the boys arrived and with a super afternoon dinner expertly prepared by Janet, we ate and drank and talked well into the evening. Unlike the south of the UK, the weather locally

over the Christmas break was very kind and as Janet and myself dropped everyone off in Glenmore on Boxing day to walk back over the tops to Forest Lodge, the frost was keen but the sun was out and the hills and mountains looked stunning with their covering of snow. On the way back from Forest Lodge there was just time to show brothers John and Peter a log with about ten, well grown green shield-moss capsules with a promise from Pete that he would try to be the first person to find the moss south of the Scottish border. I await the phone call! As everyone headed back south again I had to thank Janet for her expertise in organising the Taylor’s Xmas gathering 2012 (right). Amazing and brilliant!

In between times a talk was prepared for delivery on 3 January, and the wander back through many of my previously visited aspen woods has so far failed to find any new sites for the Caloplaca lichen – but the search goes on.

That’s it for another month. A few of the highlight of 2012 follow below.
Sorry for the delay in producing this diary, there has been a problem with the Google blog-site
Happy New Year.

Stewart and Janet