It’s catching! Sitting at the microscope one afternoon Janet
appeared at the door and said “is this of interest”, holding a big, floppy
melancholy thistle leaf, covered in parts by fungus spots. Amazingly, I scraped a bit of the fungus off
and within a few minutes was able to tell her that she had found a fungus with
the amazing name of Puccinia cnici-oleracei.
Not content with that there next appeared a leaf from the garden
berberis with a similar set of orange spots which turned out to be Puccinia
graminis, a rust fungus more often found on cereal crops and with so few
records from other species, the fungal department at Kew were happy to have the
specimen for their collection. As you
will have gathered Puccinia rusts seem to be
 |
| Puccinia cnici-oleracei on melancholy thistle leaf |
quite common and when you realise
that there are about 250 species known in Britain, there are plenty more to
find, one of which will feature a little later in this diary. As with birds and plants this is the
re-productive season for these amazing organisms each awaiting the annual
appearance of their specific plant host before beginning their own
re-productive cycle. This is quite handy
when trying to identify the particular fungus in that many identification
guides list the host plant and the species of fungi you might find on
them. One major acquisition in this line
has been ‘Microfungi on Land Plants by Ellis and Ellis’, and in the 860 pages
there are a few thousand species listed, all linked to the plants they grow
on. No pictures, but a few line drawings
and good descriptions but in a scientific language that takes a bit of getting
used to. Bird watching seems quite
simple by comparison but even here you need a type of magnifying glass to carry
out your hobby.
The major event of July was helping with
local logistics for a visit organised by the locally BSBI Recorder for Moray,
Ian Green, and the Wildflower Society. Outings
were planned for Loch an Eilein and Glen
Feshie, and following a few phone calls the Conservation Manager for Glen
Feshie Estate gave permission to take a limited number of cars into the glen,
saving many miles of walking to and from the recording area. Under a blazing sun and in temperatures in
the high twenties, this proved to be most welcome. The Saturday
 |
| Small argent and sable |
afternoon to Loch an Eilein was
a short outing around the loch, to introduce the Society members from the south
of England to species common in the north but rare in the south, and to
generally get to know one another. Lesser
twayblade, creeping lady’s tresses and water lobelia were all nice finds as a
precursor to the full day out the following day in Glen Feshie. The Sunday outing was aimed at recording as
many plant species as possible combined with an official Site Condition
Monitoring visit for a very rare fern, Oblong Woodsia (Woodsia ilvensis), the
Feshie site being one of just a handful in Scotland. After meeting up at Uath Lochans to decant
into fewer cars, we made our way up the glen to just beyond the Lodge, and as
we prepared for the walk ahead I noticed small, day-flying moths buzzing about
the roadside verges, being
 |
| Wood vetch |
identified later from photos as the small argent and
sable. A new site and quite a way from
its nearest neighbour – a good start. A
visit to river gravels where the track ran close to the river produced the
brilliantly named tea-leaved willow (Salix phylicifolia) plus a hybrid which
was heavily debated and requiring a specimen to be sent of to the UK authority on
willows. Starry and yellow saxifrage
were also found on the shingles. Much
further up the glen the group stared in disbelief at a huge patch of white
flowers covering a boulder filled gully – wood vetch, a plant which is normally
found in small quantities. The vetch
 |
| Glen Feshie outing |
indicated lime richness and a visit to the lower boulders found a few plants of
limestone bedstraw (
Galium sterneri), along with lesser twayblade and the first
spikes of mountain sorrel (
Oxyria digyna).
Oak and beech ferns were also found in their brilliant fresh, green
colour. The next mini-adventure was crossing
the River Feshie before having lunch and for most, this involved removing boots
and socks. A quick check of the
riverside rocks produced a single 5-spot ladybird (
Coccinella quinquepunctata)
but a search of the
 |
| Woodsia ilvensis |
river gravels failed to find any of the
Peltigera lichens
often found in that habitat. With lunch
over it was time to head in the direction of the
Woodsia site but on the way a
search was made for an old record of twinflower in an area of oldish Scots
pine. The estate owners have been following
the objective of trying to regenerate the woodlands naturally by deer control
and as we walked we could see they were having great success with young birches
and pines popping up everywhere. This
management though does mean that the woodland floor vegetation was a little
longer than the norm and we had to search a little harder for the as yet,
unopened flowers of twinflower, in amongst blaeberry and grasses. Would the Oblong Woodsia be just as difficult
to find? There was a bit of debate about
which scree to check, but eventually by using the “Goto” facility on my GPS we
headed in the right direction. To aid
the Site Condition Monitoring, Ian had been given a series of photos of the
Woodia
fronds from past monitoring visits, and eventually the right rock was
 |
| Procumbent pearlwort posed a problem |
found –
yes, one small rock, around which the fern was growing. Well done the person who first found the plant,
not an easy job on a mobile scree slope.
Fronds counted, photos taken, it was time to head back down river
towards the cars. A pearlwort on an area
of extensive river gravels (these alone would be worth a major survey) had
everyone scratching their heads and eventually a sample was taken to send off
to the
UK
expert. The name that came back was,
procumbent pearlwort (
Sagina procumbens), a fairly common species but the one
debated had rather unusual petals but not the right number of stamens. Back at the place where the cars were parked
there was just one last hurdle to complete – getting back across the
river. The
 |
| Contarinia loti gall on bird's-foot trefoil |
bridge that used to be at
this location was destroyed in a recent winter flood and the estate has decided
not to replace it. As folk removed boots
and socks once again, a few of us wandered back and forth looking for anything
unusual on the river gravels. A tiny
patch of purple saxifrage was the only record for the day of this plant, washed
down from its normal rocky habitat and a patch of bird’s-foot trefoil was
looking rather odd with bulbous growths instead of flowers, a plant gall which
turned out to be
Contarinia loti, complete with four larvae per gall when
checked. This was almost a new record
for
Scotland according to
NBN, with just one record along the
Caithness
coast! Goodness knows what else there is
to find in this amazing glen.
Ian and the Wildflower team were heading up
into Coire Garbhlach (a side glen to Glen Feshie) the next day, a visit I
couldn’t make, to do some recording of montane flowers, but Ian kindly sent me
a list of what they saw. I have visited
this glen on two previous occasions to look for one of our other rare ferns, mountain
bladder-fern (Cystopteris montana),
but without success. This fern was
originally found by one of the best
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| Anthracoidea paniceae smut fungus on Carex panicea |
UK Ecologists Dr. Derek Ratcliffe, whose
diligence produced many unusual records.
I watched the weather forecasts and once I saw a day where the sun would
be tamed a little by cloud, I decided this would be the day I would once again
try and get back to those impressive cliffs towards the top end of Coire
Garbhlach. With the car parked at Aclean
the initial walk is on the level parallel to the River Feshie but as the cliffs
at the t
 |
| Alpine cat's-tail - Phleum aplinum an alpine grass |
op of the glen start to appear, then the climbing begins. I decided to follow the Allt Garbhlach
because of the variety of plants and other species that would grow there
compared to the heathery hillsides either side.
The first find was one of the Anthracoidea smut fungi growing on
carnation sedge (Carex panacea) and then, on the river gravel the lichen
Peltigera leucophlebia. Ian had left a
query following his visit about the true identity of one of the alpine grasses,
and, with a good reference as to its location, I managed to re-find it just
beyond the top of a very impressive waterfall.
Again, this was a species which had probably been washed down from
higher up and when I saw it I recognised it as alpine cat’s-tail (Phleum
alpinum) from
 |
| Towering cliffs upper Coire Garbhlach |
past forays onto the high tops.
With double spiky awns protruding from the flower head it is quite an
easy grass to remember, but why just one plant on its own? A little further on and the towering cliffs
were coming into view, how good it was for the body to be behaving itself and
to be visiting once again, the natural alpine “gardens” of our mountains. On the way up the scree below the cliffs was
a single clump of mountain male fern (Dryopteris oreades) and on the damper
rocks starry saxifrage and moss campion (Silene acaulis). I knew I was close to achieving a long-held
ambition to see one of the UK’s
rarest fern and after a bit of
 |
| Mountain bladder fern - Cystopteris montana at last! |
scrambling around (sorry Janet!) I was within
touching distance of the mountain bladder-fern.
It’s not easy taking photos in a windy gully whilst holding on with one
hand and finding good footholds to stand upright,
but who cares, my mission had
been achieved. The worst bit about
getting to these loft heights (well 800m) is that there is a great reluctance
to go back down, so I found a comfy spot for a bit of lunch whilst checking
what was on the rocks beside me. I had
seen wholly willow close to the fern, but by my lunch spot was another mountain
one, whortled-leaf willow (
Salix myrsinites) and on some leaves there were even
plant
 |
| Puccinia septentrionalis on alpine meadow rue |
galls belonging to
Eupontania myrsiniticola a wee sawfly whose
distribution is restricted to
Scotland. Just to my side I could see what looked like
an orchid and sure enough there were several flowering spikes of frog orchid
which I was quite surprised to see so high up.
Lunch lasted about five minutes as I was keen to see what else was on
the rocky slopes and a familiar lichen found earlier in the day,
P.
leucophlebia, was found along with the wispy flower spikes of alpine meadow-rue
(
Thalictrum alpinum) but with some very strangely coloured stems and leaves –
more
Puccinia rust fungus, but on a mountain so could be a good
 |
| Moonwort |
find. Once home it was easily identified (by host
and colours) as
P. septentrionalis providing just the fifth dot for the NBN UK
map. All good things come to an end and
by mid-afternoon I was on my way back down, but with the advantage of height, I
was able to see a fairly distinct deer track, quite a way above the Allt
Garbhlach, which looked like the right route to aim for. Interestingly, Ian and the botanists must
have done the same thing as quite a way down the track we both found the same
patch of the fern moonwort (
Botrychium lunaria) growing alongside a still
flowering patch of mountain everlasting (
Antennaria dioica)! What a brilliant day.
Earlier in the year, a friend, Sandy, had asked if I
would like to be part of an experiment he was considering involving the green
shield-moss (Buxbaumia viridis). The experiment
would involve trying to collect spores from the mature moss capsules and, after
mixing with water, try inoculating suitable logs with the spores to see if it
was possible help the population by introducing spores to new sites. Having seen so many capsules over the last
few years I had been wondering how easily the moss can move around naturally,
as capsules suddenly appear in areas (as far as seen by humans) well away from
known sites. To undertake the work it
would be necessary to have logs or substrates with capsules outside designated
conservation areas to save having the hassle of the red-tape hoops that would
have to be jumped through, though a licence would be needed from SNH for the
work to allow us to “interfere” with the mature capsules in, as yet, an
undecided
 |
| Collecting green shield-moss spores |
way of how to actually collect the spores. The moss remains on Schedule 8 of
the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 meaning that the moss is “protected from
intentional picking, uprooting or destruction” so the work would need to be
none-destructive, leaving the mature capsules in place before and after spore
collection. A couple of years ago I
photographed spores being ejected from a capsule of the brown shield-moss and
it was hoped that by using water, we might be able to “encourage” the capsules
to eject spores, for us to collect, whilst leaving the plant in place. So, midway through July I received a phone
call to say a site had been chosen where there were plenty of this year’s
mature capsules and that an evening meeting had been arranged to trial spore
collecting techniques. There would be
four “enthusiasts” including SNH’s bryophytes, fungi and lichens expert, and
the site was a community woodland near Beauly.
At the first log the debate
 |
| Green shield-moss spores in vial |
started about how best to tempt spores to
eject and whilst Dave was applying a second drop of water to one of the
capsules via a pipette he noticed something discharge from the capsule. He then did it again. I produced some small vials from my rucksack
which were smaller than those others had brought and by carefully holding the
vial close to the spout of the capsule and touching the capsule with the
pipette, bingo, a green splodge of spores was ejected into the vial. This was repeated at several other capsules
with varying degrees of success, but most capsules produced something and
certainly enough to continue to the next step of the experiment. Initially I tried to capture an ejection on
camera but failed miserably, but then I remembered my wee camera also had video
capability and so, by carefully setting the camera on its gorillapod and
focusing continually on the spout of the capsule, an ejection was captured for
the first time (as far as I know) on video.
See Link below. I had just one
log with capsules outside any reserve designated
 |
| Buxbaumia viridis (green shield-moss) spores |
lands and a day later I
visited it and, after a long wait to allow the very dry capsules to re-hydrate,
spores were obtained ready for the next step.
My inoculation site comprised Norway spruce logs and root buttresses and
over an hour the spores were introduced to the potential growing sites via a
small pipette, carefully marking each location, along with a non-inoculated
control site close by, with white cocktail sticks. We all await with interest to see if anything
starts to grow in late September. In all
the years of working with the green shield-moss I have never actually looked at
any spores and, with a small amount of spore mass left I popped a bit under the
microscope to see for the first time, what actually make the moss “tick”.
The pine martens have continued to entertain,
though with few contacts at the time of writing. Perhaps the most amazing encounter was on the
1st July when we watched a single animal wander from the squirrel
feeders, through the garden to feed on a couple of apples which we had put out
for blackbirds by the decking in front of the French windows, which,
thankfully, were open. Janet shouted
“it’s on the deck!” just
 |
| Pine marten on deck |
at the time I had been trying to put a bit of food on
a plate to throw out with the apples.
The camera had already been in operation and was lying on the table so
very slowly I ventured to the French windows and placed the dish of food on the
deck with the pine marten watching a short distance away to my right. Blow me if it didn’t run away but came to see
if there was anything of interest on the plate.
It didn’t try any of the food but did give me a chance to record our
close encounter of the “marten” type.
Towards the end of the month Laura was over to visit Ruth, Lewis and the
boys and had never seen our pine martens, so I was
 |
| Wow! |
keeping a bit of an eye open
for any activity. Returning from putting
something in the recycling bin in the outside shed I could hear a pine marten
in the big pine behind the garage, so I quickly nipped in to tell Laura to grab
her camera and follow me with mine, back outside. We then realised that there wasn’t one, but
two martens in the pine and it was probably the presence of Pipsy our cat that
was keeping them there. Eventually the
cat returned to the house and the martens headed back towards the squirrel
feeders, not two but three of them! Daylight
was fading but there was just about enough light to capture what had to be mum
and two youngsters all fighting over who could have which feeder. Perhaps we need three feeders!
Not content with ascending to 800 metres I
was tempted to go looking for a few plants up at around the 1000 metre mark in
Coire an t-Sneachea, one of the Northern Coires of Cairn Gorm. A few chalet visitors have asked, in recent
years, about some of the rarer plants that I had seen previously in this area,
and after saying that they might be found in this general area, I thought it
best to see if it was still possible to see them.
 |
| Salix herbacea and Eupontania herbaceae gall |
Alpine saxifrage and Highland
saxifrage are two regularly asked for so, with these in mind out came the Leki
poles and off we headed for the boulder-field below the crags. Because of the number of climbers and walkers
using this route the path several years ago was quite a mess, particularly in
areas close to the wee burn, but, with path repairs that have been carried out
in the last couple of decades there is a good path almost all the way to the
famous boulder-field. So, at a gentle
plod, I made my way from the car park and up the hill, being passed a couple of
times by rope bearing folk, pretty desperate to get to the cliffs to get
climbing. As height was gained, the
vegetation became a little sparser and I could see patches of dwarf willow
(Salix herbacea) in amongst the rocks by the path. In need of a decent photo I stopped to seek
out one of the better patches and again realised that some leaves were carrying
plant galls. Photos were taken
 |
| The Goat Track in Coire an t-Sneachea |
along
with a leaf specimen for checking once home.
I knew I had seen both saxifrages on either the base of the cliffs or on
the damp rocks by the side of what is known as the Goat Track, a narrow track
traversing the less steep sections of rock, eventually giving access to the
plateau. Along the damper sections at
the base of the rock face the going was quite difficult due to steepness and
rock fans from the gully’s above, and it was hard work getting close to what
looked like the better bits of rock.
Starry saxifrage was everywhere and the showy white flowers of northern
rock-cress. A common sedge in these
sorts of areas is stiff sedge (Carex bigelowii) and whilst trying to find
sheathing sedge (Carex vaginata) I noticed that the fruits on some of the stiff
sedges were covered in a smut fungus, black balls with a white outer skin. Hmm, another interesting
 |
| Smut fungus (Anthracoidea bigelowii) on Carex bigelowii |
find, and an unusual
group of fungi that I had been keeping an eye open for with one of the species
mentioned in last months diary. A couple
were collected for homework (identified later as Anthracoidea bigelowii). A patch of
globeflowers took me by surprise and though there is a record for the plant nearby,
this site appears to be new. I traversed
across to the Goat Track and started to make my way up, keeping a careful eye
on any damp rocks by the side of the track.
Somewhere along the upper section of this track, many years ago, I found
the Highland saxifrage, but as I climbed higher there were quite a few “new”
tracks leaving what I assumed was the old main track,
 |
| Students from Glenmore Lodge |
and that I wasn’t at all
sure where, exactly, the plant had been.
Despite quite a bit of wandering about I failed to find any flowers,
perhaps I was a bit early. I had seen
the flower further round the Coire close to an obvious bright green flush on
the hillside, so I slowly made my way there, checking all suitable sites as I
wandered. I stopped for a bite to eat
and noticed more of the rust on alpine meadow-rue but also what looked like
more spots of a rust on the leaves of a patch of starry saxifrage – more
homework. Another of those pesky
Puccinia’s – P. saxifragae. I was also
becoming aware of voices nearby and eventually a
 |
| Puccinia saxifragae on starry saxifrage leaves |
group of trainees from
Glenmore Lodge and their leader popped up from below, said hello and made their
way over towards the Goat Track! Two
adult snow bunting came close to me whilst having lunch, both collecting food
to feed a family somewhere nearby.
Despite spending about an hour in the area of the green flush neither of
the saxifrages was found, so time to make my way back down to the car having
had another enjoyable day in amongst the alpine plants.
An evening cutting back rhododendron close
to the one-flowered wintergreens near Grantown had a bonus. Checking out a few of the wintergreens after
the pleasures of rhodo bashing, a few leaves on a patch of blaeberry looked a
bit odd so I took some back to check. A
bit more was found whilst visiting one of the
 |
| Exobasidium arescens on blaeberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) leaves |
twinflower sites to re-photo the
rare Septoria fungus (see earlier diary) to see whether it was still
identifiable so late into summer. I made
a stab at it being Exobasidium arescens, another leaf fungus, and after a
request was made to send some to Kew for checking, confirmation came back that
I was correct, a second site for Scotland
and the fifth in the UK
and the first record for 10 years.
Thanks rhodo, a perfect end to my evenings work. I also visited a few of my favourite bogs to
check sedges and small cranberry (Vaccinium microcarpum) patches for things
growing on them. Many of the cranberry sites
had good crops of berries
 |
| The beautiful Small Cranberry flowers |
which should keep the birds happy, and some patches
were still heavy in flower – one of the most intriguing flowers you are likely
to encounter whilst out botanising. The
visits were just about perfect for seeing lots of raft spiders (Dolomedes
fimbriatus) with their nursery webs plus several spiders which look like raft
spiders, but only about half of the size.
Possibly these are youngsters from last summer so one for the spider
expert to check next time we meet. A
very late family of blackbirds arrived in the garden on 28th and for
the
 |
| Raft spider Dolomedes fimbriatus |
first time we had adult yellowhammers with youngsters in the garden, an
indication that they must have bred quite close by. And finally, hasn’t it been hot? Our weather station thermometer topped 30
degrees C for two days running, almost making it too hot for butterfly activity
on the transects. As the temperatures
dropped towards the end of the month the first Scotch argus butterflies were
encountered, it will be interesting to see if numbers reach the same dizzy
heights as last year. Watch this space.
Enjoy the read.
Stewart and Janet
Wildflower Society
Highland Biological Recording Group website
Dr. Derek Ratcliffe – outstanding ecologist
and conservationist
The first filmed footage of the green
shield-moss (Buxbaumia viridis) ejecting spores
 |
| Tick bites, an occupational hazard |
 |
| Sundew plant with captured common blue damselfly - quite a meal |
 |
| The brilliant Glen Feshie |
Photos © Stewart Taylor
