Taking the car for its regular service on the 1st
had its usual benefits. Leave car at
garage then walk! On this occasion I
turned right and then right again onto the B970 and then through the gate onto
Revack Estate, initially following the Explore Abernethy path towards
Nethybridge. Still, in the back of my
mind was the request from HBRG to look for the large willow aphid on willows
(of course) and as usually none were found.
A dried sap run on a very old birch produced
 |
Peter Porter tree illustration from
RSAS excursion 1894 |
what is becoming a quite
regular feature, a population of Sclerophora peronella pinhead lichens, and,
from the damp flush close by, a woodcock was disturbed.
 |
| RSAS excursion report 1894 |
It would be interesting to know what the
wintering population of this bird is locally: on almost every outing I have to
say ‘sorry’ as yet another woodcock is disturbed from habitat where it is obviously
searching for food. I really should try
to make a note of location and forward to BTO Birdtrack, but with so many
 |
1st photo of Peter Porter tree
from In the Shadow of Cairngorm book
ca. 1900 |
other
things ending up in the diary (see later) I might never get round to forwarding
the records. I digress. After a mile or so, the way-marked route
exits the woods and enters agricultural lands where I am always tempted to
visit the old farm ruins at Brae of Revack (NJ03562416). Despite it being early December I listed the
following plants - prickly sow-thistle, lesser burdock, nettle, ribwort plantain
and single elder sapling and the lichens Peltigera membranacea and the map
lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum. A roof
slate neatly covered in bits of turf by the ruin’s wall revealed a legal fen
trap beneath,
 |
| Peter Porter tree 2008 |
awaiting any inquisitive small mammal. Searching some of the next half mile of
willow scrub failed to find any aphids but did produce a new site for the green
shield moss. Back on the track I headed
for the B970 and the old Nethy Kirk where I had arranged a lift with Janet. Along the way I was tempted to see if the
famous old (now dead) Scots pine known as ‘Peter Porter’ was still
standing. So, one last departure from
the track eventually brought me face to face with the old leviathan, looking
much the same as when I last photographed it in 2008 apart from one of the
bigger limbs having fallen off. This
tree was once a well-known local feature with many Nethybridge residents making
outings each year to see it. In 1894,
the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society had an excursion to Strathspey, Moray
and Banffshire, visiting “Peter Porter” during their Strathspey outing,
producing the first illustration I can find of the tree in their excursion
report. Then, in 1900, The Rev. W.
Forsyth, Minister of Abernethy and Kincardine wrote the now famous book “In the
Shadow of Cairngorm” complete with a description and photo of the tree. It is difficult for me to understand why this
particular tree produced so much interest, knowing
 |
| Peter Porter tree December 2014 |
that Abernethy Forest has
many such trees, many still alive, but perhaps the detail provided by The Rev. Forsyth
gives an insight as to why the tree became famous - “The biggest trees
remaining [Scots pines in Abernethy] are to be found at Carn Chnuic, Sleighich,
and Craigmore. One of these in the last named locality bears the name of ‘Peter
Porter.’ The Grants at the port or ferry
of Balliefurth were called "porters," and it is said that one of them
of the name of Peter had taken a contract to cut down a certain number of trees
on Craigmore, but that when he came to tackle this giant of the wild, he shrunk
from the task. It would not pay. So the
tree stands to this day, bearing his name, and an object of admiration to
hundreds of visitors from year to year. It is 80 feet in height, 14 feet in girth,
with huge branches and wide spreading cable-like roots, and must be about 300
years old.” In 2010 the book was
reprinted, complete with page stains and blemishes, and contains tales of local
folklore from the 19th
 |
Original copy of In the Shadow
of Cairngorm 1900 |
century.
If you want to buy the original it could set you back around £250. Despite its famous past history I wouldn’t be
surprised if I was the only person to visit it more than once in the last
decade. And for me, the tree is worth
visiting if only to try and name some of the many pinhead lichens hiding in
nooks and crannies of its ancient trunk, three of which I am still puzzling
over! There is no shortcut to
ancientness and Peter will continue to be an important lump of biodiversity
rich habitat for another hundred years.
Interested? It can be found at
NJ02665 21693. Thank you to neighbour
Rita for all the historical information about this tree. Back on the track I headed quickly down the
hill to make my 2pm rendezvous with Janet at the Old Kirk carpark.
Checking of sites locally for aspens, as described last
month, continued, with a great outing on the 4th. The map had several numbered red polygons to
find and check, mainly in an area close to Guislich Farm on Rothiemurchus
estate. Close to the old farm buildings a
group of known aspens were GPS-ed and counted (known sites are blue on the
maps), these trees being the same ones
 |
Red spot is Marchandiomyces corallinus
growing on Parmelia sulcata lichen |
that produced the rare fungus growing on
aspen flowers back in May. The first red
dot of the day though would be more of a challenge to find and thankfully I had
spent a bit of time working out an approximate grid reference using the brilliant
Grab a Grid Ref website. In the middle
of a dense patch of junipers the red dot turned out to be an ancient rowan, but
the next red dot produced a group of 4 mature trees and the first record for
the National Park for the lichen parasite Marchandiomyces corallinus growing on
the very common Parmelia sulcata lichen.
Wandering on across bog and bog-woodland following my GPS the next red
dot turned out to be a group of dead Scots pines. I then exited the
 |
| Rinanuan croft |
trees to follow a track
leading to a ruined croft by the name of Rinanuan. This ruin isn’t too far from the old TV
transmitter mast on a hill above the Sluggan Pass. The ruin, surrounded by what was once fairly
basic pasture with the odd waxcap fungus still present, had amazing views
across to the Cairngorms, but standing there one had to wonder how anyone once
made a living from this area of open moorland.
Suddenly I was aware of the deep "cruc cruc" calls of a
nearby raven and
was just lucky enough to see the calling bird drop down to the ground, possible
for a late afternoon feed on a bit of carrion.
A second bird then flew to join the first but within a couple of minutes
both birds were up and flying only to land together in a nearby pine tree, less
than a hundred metres away. Tree, ravens
and snowy Cairngorms backdrop – just time for a quick photo with the wee
compact camera before heading off towards the next red dot location. A symmetrically shaped pile of stones by the
track looked like an old lime-kiln, the location noted for passing on to local
lime-kiln enthusiast Donald, just in
 |
| Distant view of Duke of Gordon monument |
case it wasn’t known. The light rain that had been falling for most
of the afternoon suddenly stopped and for the last hour of my outing I was
blessed with an amazing burst of late afternoon sun, setting the red bark of the
pines aglow and, in the far off distance, highlighting the Duke of Gordon monument
against a backdrop of hills around Kingussie.
Brilliant! The last red dot for
the day turned out to be a group of willow bushes, once again covered with the
white scale insects (Chionaspis salicis) recorded earlier in the year on both
 |
| Chionaspis salicis scale insects |
willows and aspens, but no willow aphids.
As the sun continued to shine I made my way back down the hill towards
the track leading to the B970 and the car.
The track produced the last nice finds of the day, a huge patch of
stag’s-horn clubmoss (Lycopodium clavatum) creeping down the track-side bank
and then, popping up from the centre of the track a couple of fruiting bodies
of the weirdly shaped hooded false morel (Gyromitra infula), one of the rarer
finds of the day. Passing a herd of
highland cattle, with calves, I was tempted to try and capture a photo of
“glowing” cows backlit by the setting sun, but the general darkness was just
too much for the wee camera. However,
back at the car the rising,
 |
| Stag's-horn clubmoss |
almost full moon provided a nice end to the
day. Four hours of wandering allowed 5 “red
map dots” to be visited: just one providing a record of actual aspens but, just
as valuable, a notebook page of “other” records. By the end of December, 5 other aspen maps
had been completed, most having plenty of aspens at the locations to check and
one, close to Kincardine Church (by the B970) having the most amazing
collection of rarer lichens two of which have the amazing names of
Fuscopannaria mediterranea and Leptogium saturnium.
The next day we were off for a long weekend with daughter
Laura and Douglas, armed with camera and big lens for a chance to capture a few
shots of some of their amazing garden birds.
A visit to Fyvie Castle on the first afternoon allowed just enough time
to visit walled gardens, adjacent woodlands and loch where we
 |
| Calling pink-feet overhead |
saw coot,
moorhen, mute swans, all rarish birds local to Nethybridge, along with the more
familiar goldeneye and greylag geese. We
even managed to photograph a red squirrel feeding on an abundant crop of beech
nuts. Sun and frost combined to provide
a perfect end to the outing. Next
morning Laura and myself braved the heavy frost to wander the quiet roads by
their house just to watch the amazing fly-by of thousands of mainly pink-footed
geese as they
 |
| One of many tree sparrows |
made their way from roost site to feeding sites in the
surrounding fields. However, the
highlight for me was huge numbers of tree sparrows now resident around their
house, the population possible being boosted by a good supply of nest box sites
and plentiful supply of bird food. In
one photo we counted 30 tree sparrows and our best estimate put their numbers
at around 50 birds! An
amazing sight
particularly with this bird being non-existent in our home area. Just time in the afternoon for a visit to
Haddo House and a walk round another loch, with little grebe, teal and tufted
duck allowing the compact camera’s zoom lens to be tested again. Best shot of
the day had to be the low-sun shadow shot as we all walked along the main
drive. The drive back home the next day saw
us undertaking cautious driving as the first serious snow of the winter started
to fall.
A little bit of follow up work was undertaken at the
Flowerfield orchid site (as covered last month re a possible chalet
development), mainly checking some of the older trees which might be affected,
to see if they supported any unusual mosses, fungi or lichens. One find was a small ladybird which turned
out to be the cream-spot ladybird with the amazing scientific name of Calvia
quattuordecimguttata the latter being abbreviated to 14-guttata! During the
 |
Misty Alvie stone circle aligned for the
winter solstice |
month the snow came and went with
a maximum depth of four inches and a low temperature of -8 degrees
centigrade. Christmas Day with daughter
Ruth and family was a brilliant gathering, though the misty conditions as the
temperature dropped during the day made for interesting views around the
standing stones near her house. A couple
of days later and with clear skies, a heavy frost and
 |
| Red grouse in the snow |
all day sun making for wonderful
views all round as we went for a “break in eating” walk in the Lurg area on the
outskirts of the village. A recently
established fenced off woodland proved attractive to a few red grouse no doubt
making the most of good feeding on the lush vegetation. Colour photos turned out as black and white ones
with dark, leafless trees standing out against the snowy background. Ian and James were also on the go moving feed
to their out-wintering cattle, the natural seeds in the hay/silage keeping
quite a few
 |
| A murmuration unlikely to make the telly! |
rooks happy too. A
murmuration of 3 starlings posed on the overhead wires before departing to
roost and a lone brown hen harrier was hunting over a field of “neeps” before
also heading off to roost. For a change
of scene we headed off to the coast at Nairn for the day on the 30th
enjoying calm sunny weather for our walk along the shore, with lots of other
folk also making the most of the kind weather.
We headed inland to the River Nairn for the afternoon and our walk along
the riverbank brought good views of a little grebe (the second of the
 |
| Goosander River Nairn |
month)
and a female goosander which posed just long enough for a hurried photo. This walk, way back in February, found lots of
the tiny red scarlet elf cup fungus (Sarcoscypha coccinea) growing on fallen
deadwood and we were quite amazed to see a big population had already started
to re-appear on one or two logs. In
places the riverside path had been washed away during the heavy rains in
October and everywhere in the river were whole, huge trees, felled and wash
 |
| Early scarlet elf cup fungus |
down river in the spate. It will be
interesting to see if these trees are left to their own devices or removed in
case they pose problems down river if there was another big spate. My last outing of the year took place the
next day with a visit to the River Findhorn at a place called Dunearn,
following the river in-land from the main road to Nairn. Having driven through the woods in this area
earlier in the year I had been impressed by the appearance of naturalness as we
drove along, and it had been on my “to visit” list ever since. However, naturalness towards the end of the
single track road didn’t convert to ancientness and the birches just didn’t look
like they would be home to too
 |
Crimped gill fungus
(Plicatura crispa) |
many unusual species of lichens. Lots of siskins and redpolls, but despite
toiling up and down the steep slopes, I was finding little of interest. No doubt a lichen expert would be quite
happy, but with my limited knowledge and aspen trees as my favoured tree
species, it wasn’t living up to my expectations. On the drive in though I had spotted a good
stand of young to ancient hazels so I hopped in the car and headed back to
them. Again, lots of fun with steep slopes
but the first trees had masses of felt lichen (Peltigera collina) and the bonny
wee crimped gill fungus (Plicatura crispa) so named possibly because of the
 |
| The mystery red billed bird |
amazingly shaped and odd coloured gills.
Then, a small population of lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria) was found, the
day was getting better. Lungwort is a
lichen which has a history of use as an herbal medicine, and recent research
has corroborated that some extracts may be beneficial to lung health as well as
containing antioxidant properties. The
next find had me, for a wee while, scratching my head. The remains of a predated bird, with a bright
red beak, was on the ground in front of me.
The gaudy colours of a puffin’s bill flashed in
 |
Crustose lichen
Fuscopannaria mediterranea |
my mind before logic
took over and I remembered seeing good numbers of red-legged partridges on the
road, reared and released for sport.
This particular bird had served another purpose, keeping one of the
local predators fed for a day! Back on
the road and heading back to the car I spotted a multi-stemmed, ancient hazel
high up the slope above the road. One
last check for 2014? Why not. More felt lichen and crimped gill fungus
greeted me and then I noticed one of the rarer crustose lichens on one of the
bigger branches, a second location for December for Fuscopannaria mediterranea,
and on the main trunk of the tree another crustose species Parmeliella
triptophylla something I’ve found regularly on hazel. I nice ending to my wanderings for 2014, and
as I made my way finally back to the car a large crescent of a moon was just
appearing over the trees.
An end to my wanderings yes, but not to entering all my
species data and once home the last notebook entries for 2014 were added to my
MapMate database. It has been quite an
interesting year for records. The summer
outings recording plants for the BSBI/CNPA project produced around 3500
personal records, but the amazing efforts of all 18 recorders added 19,800
records from areas with few plant records within the Cairngorms National Park. A total of 633 plant species + hybrids were
recorded (comprising 693 taxa). Downloading
all the records I had entered for 2014 showed I had made 6030 entries,
including the plant records from above.
However, all plant records amounted to 4300 entries
 |
NBN map for
Fuscopannaria mediterranea |
with butterflies and
moths reaching 370, and lichens and fungi totalling 1030. I must have gone slightly mad in 2014 with my
entries being almost 3x the total for 2013!
Amazing. And, where do all my
records end up? All the plant records go
to Andy one of our local BSBI Vice-county recorders, and are added to the BSBI
database. The butterflies and moths go
to Butterfly Conservation, lichens to the British Lichen Society and the fungi
to the FRDBI. All my records go to the
Highland Biological Recording Group and most of these will end up on the NBN
Gateway (National Biodiversity Network) database and national mapping
scheme. A few birds make it to the BTO
Birdtrack website. What’s the point of
spending time in the field looking and recording if all your records remain in
your notebook!
If you enjoy the peace and quiet of the Strathspey
countryside – look away now. Over the
Christmas period work started on the Aviemore Go-Kart track and the
neighbouring Granish caravan site.
Despite the loss of badger and wildcat habitat, ancient oaks and aspens
these projects were given the go-ahead by the Cairngorm National Park, Tourism
and Development Board. I’m now biting my
tongue before I say anymore…………..
A good New Year to you all
Stewart and Janet
NBN
BTO (and click on Current Surveys Birdtrack)
British Fungi (FRDBI)
Highland Biological Recording Group
and how to join HBRG
 |
| Grandsons going "crackers" |
 |
| Grandma with Harry the Gruffalo |
 |
| A mystery Christmas bird |
 |
| Here's to 2015 -all the best |
Photos © Stewart Taylor
