Goodness, how true the “Sorry to spoil your New Year” email
mentioned in the last paragraph of December’s blog turned out to be regarding
the planning application for two chalets close to the Flowerfield orchid
site. Going through my diary I find that
there was some involvement in visiting the site, trying to work out where roads
and chalets would be, contacting the Highland Council planners and then when
the application was ‘called in’ by the Cairngorm National Park (CNP) contacting
their staff and generally gathering and passing on information to interested
parties, over 17 days! Very poor
information given in the application, particularly covering exactly where
buildings would be, where septic tank run off would go, which trees might have
to be felled and, initially, a
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| The 'L' shape of one proposed chalet in an ancient woodland site |
complete lack of landscape and ecological
information, meant many visits to the location.
From limited information I eventually managed to produce a map of where
the chalets would be, then transferring that onto the ground at the site
allowed myself and others involved in possibly objecting to see exactly what
would be where. Via the computer, and
with the invaluable help of local BSBI Vice County Recorder Andy, information
was gathered on how the number of the two key orchids at the Flowerfield meadow
– lesser butterfly orchid and small white orchid – compared with other known UK
sites. Despite still waiting for an up
to date count for a site in Wales where one of the two butterfly orchids grows (lesser
or greater) the Flowerfield site is turning out to be one of the best in the UK
for both species. There are few
individual sites with comparable counts for either species but when you
consider that the Flowerfield site has BOTH species in numbers at levels of UK
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| Cattle grazing close to the un-fenced boundary |
importance, the site is proving to be exceptional. And how does this all tie in with the
planning application? Currently, the
Flowerfield ownership has an unfenced boundary with the land owned by the
applicant and because of that there is an ad hoc grazing arrangement, whereby the
cattle wander between the two ownerships, as they have done for possibly 50-60
years, and this level of grazing maintains the short sward which is proving to
be ideal for the orchids. If the chalet
application is successful and this boundary is fenced or, the area of the two
chalets is fenced, the current grazing levels could be altered with a knock on
effect for the orchids. In making the
case for maintaining the
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| Northern brown argus butterfly, one of the rarer butterflies |
status-quo two excellent papers have been produced and
forwarded to the CNP and the Scottish Governments conservation agency Scottish
Natural Heritage (SNH), one covering the important plants, including the
orchids, and the other covering the Red Data Book moths that have also been
recorded on the meadow. As part of the
information gathering process I was given access by SNH to what is known as the
Glencairn file (as the site was known before it became Flowerfield), and the
number of times designating the site as possibly an SSSI (Site of Special
Scientific Interest) was raised without anything happening, is quite
scandalous. Few SSSI are designated
anymore, so it is
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| Before and after, orchid meadow on the left |
unlikely that this could happen retrospectively. Interestingly, the field comprising the
current orchid meadow used to be much bigger until the 1980s when about half of
it was fenced off as part of a woodland regeneration scheme. It is interesting to see what the orchid site
could turn into without the right level of cattle grazing, this photo is taken
along the boundary of the two sections of the once bigger field. The application will be determined at the CNP
planning meeting on the 18th March 2016.
Close to the orchid meadow is another area with its own wee
bit of importance. Up until a few years
ago there was a visitor attraction known as Auchgourish Gardens, by the B970
road which also runs past the orchid site.
When it closed I knew parts of it, particularly the ex-car parks, might
be good for the plant heath cudweed (Gnaphalium sylvaticum), and a count
carried out in September 2014 found
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| Heath cudweed in flower |
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| Heath cudweed after flowering |
660 plants.
In late 2014, the ex-garden area and car parks were used to store logs,
felled from the surrounding Scots pine plantation, ready for the timber wagons
to load up and take to market, so I avoided visiting during last summer. It took until about September 2015 for most
of the logs to be removed from the site and on my way back from one of the
Flowerfield visits I decided to pop in to see whether the plants had survived
in reasonable numbers. Despite storage
of timber not being too good for the cudweed during log storage time, ground
disturbance would, ultimately, benefit the plant by creating bare ground
conditions it likes. Despite my visit
being on the 3rd January I knew the plants from the summer would
still be quite visible, standing erect like mini Christmas trees. As I visited each of the ex-car parks the
numbers began to build with the biggest count coming from the uppermost car
park – 230! In total, 540 old flower
spikes were found so not a bad count. As
I wandered back and forth counting the uppermost car park I suddenly noticed
something quite odd, a
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| Corkscrew rush (Juncus effusus f. spiralis) |
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| Close up of corkscrew rush |
ground hugging plant comprising a mass of ‘curls’. On closer inspection it looked like a rush
species (Juncus), almost like someone had taken a set of curling tongues to the
normally tall spikes of soft rush (Juncus effusus). There had to be a strong possibility that
this was something that had ‘escaped’ from the ex-gardens, so a small sample
was taken home, along with a photo or two, to check. The obvious starting point was to type “curly
rush” into Google and sure enough pictures of the garden plant the “corkscrew
rush” popped up. One problem was solved,
I was dealing with a garden escape, a non-native plant, going by the name of
Juncus effusus f. spiralis, and a quick check with the man that used to run the
garden confirmed that he had had a few plants within the garden set up but
nowhere near where I had found my plant.
It just goes to show how quickly new plants can become established in
the wild. However, if you check for
Juncus effuses var. spiralis on NBN you will see that there is a genuine native
rush by that name, growing mostly in the west of Scotland, including the Outer
Isles, so one to look out for when next we visit. This native though doesn’t have the tight
spirals found on the garden escape.
It has been quite a good bird month. The number of tail-less blackbirds in the
garden rose to two, possibly members of the same 2015 family? Both were seen feeding on the large fat-cake
together on several occasions. A
brambling was present all month so possibly more than one, and one of 15
species recorded on the ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’ day, the commonest being
chaffinch with an
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| The two blackbirds without tails |
estimate of around 50.
There were no corvids or house sparrows despite there being a light fall
of snow but the sparrowhawk was a regular visitor as it was all month. A text from Richard early in the month
informed me that the glaucous gull from the last blog had been joined by an
adult Iceland gull, both in amongst a couple of hundred other gulls in a flooded
field next to Broomhill steam railway
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| Greenfinch, brambling and chaffinch |
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| Wow! Sparrowhawk looking for breakfast |
station.
Just as interesting was a flock of about 130 lapwings possibly having
chosen the wrong month to return to breed but probably being tempted inland
during yet another warm spell. A day out
to Findhorn on the 13th produced a couple of surprises. After a light lunch at the Findhorn
Foundation café we made the most of a sunny day and wandered through the dunes
to the pebbly shore to be greeted by a very high tide. Dodging amongst the pebbles were several
small groups of turnstones allowing us to get quite close before they flew off
along the shore. As we approached
another group I fired off a few shots with the camera before trying to get a
little closer by dodging about in the dunes.
Being quite bright I was having to use the tiny view-finder on the
camera to see what I was photographing. As
we turned to head back to our lunch venue I spotted what I thought were more
turnstones but this time wandering amongst lots of pebbles in the sandy
dunes. Being
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| Turnstones and ringed plovers fly-past |
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| Golden plovers |
high tide I assumed these
were birds that had been pushed off the shore in search of food or had been
disturbed by us. Having forgotten my
binoculars I was assuming my camera was taking pictures of some of the same turnstones
throughout and it was quite a surprise, once home, to see that there were
turnstones in the first pictures, ringed plovers in the second set and the
birds in the dunes turned out to be golden plovers. Amazing!
As we walked back through the dunes I found a few small populations of
the rare matt felt lichen (Peltigera malacea), a dune/sandy habitat specialist,
the most
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| Peltigera malacea lichen |
photogenic being a small population growing in a limpet shell. The month ended with quite a dump of snow
with an accumulation of about six inches by mid-day. Photographing the general mayhem of birds
trying to get sunflower hearts from the feeder I noticed a robin popping up
from a heap of snow cleared from below the feeders. I fired a couple of shots off thinking of a robin
and snow Christmas
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| Stewart's robin |
card which when checked wasn’t quite good enough so, just
for a bit of fun, I put the photo on the BBC weather watchers website along
with the weather details. Watching the
weather forecast at the end of the Scottish news, there was my robin, another
success. That though wasn’t the end and
later in the day one of my photos of the snow falling in the village made it to
the BBC continuous news channel!
An email early in January from David Genney, SNH’s Bryophytes,
Fungi and Lichens expert informed me that funding had been secured for a contract
to survey for the green shield-moss (Buxbaumia viridis) in the wooded glens to
the west of Inverness. Two bryophyte
experts were to be employed to carry out the searches but to let them see the
moss and the sort of deadwood habitat where it grew, would it be possible for
me to take the three of them round a few of my Abernethy Forest sites. I visited some of my sites to ensure the moss
was present and on the 19th the three of
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| The green shield-moss trio checking the moss |
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| Spot the caper |
them spent the morning with
me visiting three different species of dead trees along with one ex-wood ant
nest. I light dusting of snow actually
made the upright capsules quite a bit easier to see and several photos were
taken of the capsules popping out of the snow.
One of Dave’s photos looked very impressive and after I had said cheerio
to the trio I packed my camera bag and returned to one log where there might be
photographic potential. After taking my
pictures I headed back to the car and with the nearby young Scots pines covered
in a dusting of snow and frost I set the camera up to take a photo. Something in the background then caught my
eye – a male capercaillie was feeding on pine needles right at the top of one
of the trees. In the gathering late
afternoon gloom I was just about able to capture a shot of trees, snow, frost
and caper all in the same picture. What
an end to a great day out and good luck Clare and Julie with the searches, not
an easy task.
Late in the month I attended a committee meeting for the HBRG
in Strathpeffer. The date clashed with
the madcap event called the Strathpuffer, a twenty-four hour endurance event
involving riding mountain bikes on forest tracks for both individuals and
teams. When I attend the HBRG meetings
in Strathpeffer I always set off early so that I can make a quick visit to
Rogie Falls and adjacent woodland, and, with the meeting ending at about 1pm, a
visit to another site that might prove to be
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| Bifid crestwort (Lophocolea bidentata) |
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| Bifid crestwort leaf cells x1000 |
interesting. Rogie Falls has been a site for the green
shield-moss in the past so a couple of the ancient dead trees are always worth
checking. The moss wasn’t found but an
unusual looking liverwort was on a log, a group of species I know very little
about. So photos were taken along with a
small sample for checking. Back home,
after quite a while squashing some of the liverwort leaves and checking The Mosses
and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland handbook, the name Lophocolea bidentata
(bifid crestwort) was arrived at, quite a common species so one I’d not noticed
previously. The afternoon visit took me past the entrance to the Forestry
Commission woodland where the Strathpuffer event
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| Carex flacca and Anthracoidea fungus |
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| Anthracoidea pratensis spores x100 |
was being held and, with
hundreds of cars parked close to the site, I decided this wasn’t the place for
my afternoon outing. On previous visits
to the area I had noticed what looked like an old quarry right next to the
Ullapool road and close to Rogie Falls, and that is where I headed. A lot of rock had obviously been removed in
the past and it looked like the quarry had been closed for quite some time due
to the amount of plant and trees species now present on the site. The actual rock face looked just too
dangerous to visit, especially after frost when a following thaw makes some
rocks quite unstable and loose. My
initial thoughts were that the quarry wasn’t going to produce anything too
unusual so I decided just to make a list of all the plants that could be
identified from their winter remains plus any evergreens. There was a lot of water on the quarry floor
and the remains of one of the sedges was regularly found. Short hairs on the dead sedge fruits lead me
towards Carex flacca and when I found black fungal balls on some fruits I just
had to take a few samples back to check.
The sedge was C. flacca (glaucous sedge) and, despite this being the
middle of winter the fungus on the fruits still had readily identifiable spores
leading to the amazing name of Anthracoidea pratensis, the most northerly
record to date. Despite this being
winter-time 46 species of plants were recorded along with a tiny population of
the lichen Lobaria pulmonaria on an ancient goat willow. It would be interesting to re-visit the site
during the summer months.
It was sad to hear of the death of Terry Wogan on the 31stJanuary,
an easy going broadcaster who, for a few years, made the Eurovision Song
Contest fun to listen to. The songs were
mostly terrible, but the commentary was always witty and to the point. However, not a programme I have listened to
for probably the last 20 years! Neither
was I one of the TOGs, regular radio listeners known as Terry’s
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| The Lecht ski-road a good job done by the redoubtable 'Mrs Mackay' |
Old Geezers and
Gals. As all the tributes flowed the one
person I didn’t hear mentioned was the famous old lady that helped keep one of
our local roads open after winter-time snows – Mrs Mackay! When the roads reports were read out on the Radio
Two morning programme you would often hear that the A939 Cockbridge to
Tomintoul road (over the Lecht ski area) had been closed because of deep snow. Wogan would often be heard to joke that the
redoubtable Mrs Mackay, the one woman snowplough, would be out with her shovel
clearing the road!
As I complete this blog the date with doctor and robot is
just a few days away (operation 17 February) when my walnut sized prostate will
be removed. 4 to 6 weeks is the
suggested recovery time, possibly longer, so there is likely to be a ‘short
intermission’ in blog production.
Enjoy the read
Stewart and Janet
Sites of Scientific Interest details
Firwood Blog and heath cudweed Auchgourish Gardens
Juncus effusus var. spiralis photos
and NBN distribution of the native spiral rush
NBN Gateway
Strathpuffer Event
Fungal Records Database of Britain and Ireland (FRDBI)
BSBI – Botanical Society of the British Isles
Highland Biological Recording Group (HBRG)
and how to join HBRG
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| Glaucous gull |
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| Iceland gull |
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| Bynack Mor and the Cairngorms from Nethybridge |
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| The flock of early lapwings |
Photos © Stewart Taylor
