White van man makes his mark – ouch!

The first half of September was dominated by the ongoing survey of tooth fungi and, as data continues to be entered into the 2011 spreadsheet, it looks like it has been another good season with current total of locations entered so far topping the 700 mark. With a dozen pages of the notebook still to complete the total could be close to 1000 locations found in 2010. The biggest change was seen in the lack of fruiting bodies of Sarcodon glaucopus (green-foot tooth) with only about 10 found compared to 35 in 2010. One of the main objectives of undertaking the survey over so many years was to see what the variation in the number of fungi appearing annually would be, though whether this can be attributed to annual weather patterns or other forces will take a bit more work than my track walking survey. I continued to find new sites for the fungus re-found last year Hydnellum gracilipes, and on a few days 2-3 new sites a day were being found. As mentioned in the last diary, I was unable to help myself delving into overhanging “curtains” of heather (left) and other vegetation, mainly in old wee quarries by the tracks, and occasionally I was lucky to find a few small, pink fruiting bodies. I don’t have a final total yet but there must be between ten and twenty new sites this year, I just need to find it outside Abernethy now!

I continued to check local spruce woods for the rare Bankera violascens but without luck, but was rewarded by finding a few other unusual fungi like this shaggy parasol (Lepiota rhacodes right) and a small morel like fungus which turned out not to be a morel at all but a fungus from the same Ascomycete family (a large class of higher fungi distinguished by having their spores formed in asci, or spore sacs; the sac fungi, and comprising many orders, among which are the yeasts, moulds, mildews, truffles, morels, etc) by the name of Cudonia circinans (left). A couple of fungi experts visiting to see H. gracilipes, helped with this one, otherwise I would have been stumped. The bog on the butterfly transect that gave me a soaking also produced a very strange fungus on one September walk. Avoiding the deep hole from the last diary, I took a more usual route and was amazed to find what looked like a fungus growing in completely waterlogged sphagnum. There were several fruiting bodies so I lifted one out for a closer look and yes, it did look like a fungus, again, probably from the Ascomycete family. A little light lit up in my head as I remembered finding something similar when out with the Orton team several years ago (1994) in sphagnum on the edge of a lochan. Thankfully, the visiting experts also helped provide a name which sure enough popped up on the Orton list as Sarcoleotia turficola (right). Amazing.

The last few weeks of the butterfly transect provided some of the best weather of the survey period with some sun but without the strong winds which seemed to accompany most of the other sunny transect days. The big problem was that there weren’t many butterflies on the wing in September but it did give the Scotch argus an extended flight period, a last emergence for a few green-veined whites and the only red admiral of the year. So, for a survey that started on the 1 April and ended on the 28 September, walks were managed on 21 weeks with 3 visits having to be repeated after walks were aborted due to poor weather. The table left gives a comparison year by year of the species and numbers seen. September always seems a long way off when the walks start in April but it is amazing how the weeks fly by. Let’s hope for better weather in 2012.

The transect again provided something new for Abernethy – a wee shieldbug. The new camera was put to use to capture a good image of the beastie resting on a fallen birch leaf but just in case more identification information would be needed, it accompanied me home until I could carry out a check on the brilliant bugs website (http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/ ). Its size was slightly smaller than the regularly encountered birch shieldbug but a bit of searching took me towards it being Picromerus bidens due to the very prominent spike like projections on its pronotum, but just to be sure I loaded a photo onto iSpot (http://www.ispot.org.uk/node/217256t.org.uk/node/217256ot.org.uk/node/217256 ) where 4 people agreed with my identification. Once my check had been completed the bug was returned to Tulloch Moor, close to where it was found. The following day we had a frost and the first pink footed geese were passing overhead.

With the Abernethy tooth fungi field work completed I made a visit to Rothiemurchus to look for Hydnellum gracilipes. The walk out to the edge of the Lairig Ghru was enjoyable but nothing was found. A similar outing to the pinewood on the edge of the Nethy golf course was unsuccessful but provided me with one of the biggest bird surprises I have had in recent years. Having walked a couple of tracks I decided to follow a sort of unofficial path running by the fence on the edge of the golf course back to the car. A large brown shape caught my eye close by the fence and when I realised what it was, the camera was out in an instance to capture a photo just in case the GREAT SKUA should fly away! I needn’t have worried, the bird was obviously hungry and very tired and I was able to take off my jumper and wrap it round it and take it home. Initially I wasn’t 100% sure that what I had caught was a great skua so I called on the help of local bird ringer Keith and between us and by checking measurements with those in the Handbook of the Birds of Europe, we were happy that the identification was correct. With Janet’s help the bird was fed and watered, cat food followed by expensive slices of best haddock, and placed in a large box for the night. More food and water during the following morning and it was time for the bird to take its chance again in the big wide world. It was released at Broomhill Bridge on the River Spey. A bonny bird and probably a casualty of the tail end of Hurricane Katia which battered the west of Scotland with winds of 70+ mph. See Liam Dutton’s weather broadcast at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14879075 to see where the bird’s problem might have started. According to the Bird’s of Badenoch and Strathspey this is possibly only the 4th record for the area of this “pirate of the seas”.

The 22 September was a sad day. After 100,000 miles as a companion it was time to say cheerio to our faithful wee blue Fiesta V907. With lots of work needed as well as a new engine flywheel we decided the best course of action was to scrap the car. The deed was done mid-morning when the car transporter arrived to pick it up and within minutes the car was loaded and gone. The next day we weren’t too sure this had been a good decision. Friday morning had been spent looking after grandson Archie and mid-pm we were heading home via the A9. There were lots of vehicles on the A9 and I said to Janet to watch the antics of a “white van man” behind us who was undertaking a very risky overtake particularly as there was a bus heading south on the opposite side of the road. Completing the overtake the van ended up behind us. I was certain that being in such a hurry the van would be heading for Inverness and I was very surprised to see it follow us off the A9 at the junction north of Aviemore. As we approached the slip-road junction onto the A95 I slowed to a stop to let a car from Aviemore pass when there was a very loud bang and “white van man” had managed to run into us! Thankfully the car from Aviemore missed us but we were both a bit dazed by the impact. The police were called and details taken and we were assured that the van driver was at fault. An insurance check found the chassis had been damaged along with a jammed boot and other bent panels and the car was “uneconomical to repair”, and so started several weeks of phoning and messing about to sort out some new transport. Whilst a value is given for the vehicle we have yet to find out whether a value will be given for inconvenience. White van man’s vehicle wasn’t damaged! Watch this space.

Robins started to sing again during the month and the numbers of blackbirds in the garden increased. With few berries on the rowan trees redwings have just been passing through. The visiting pine marten has continued to entertain and Sue and Clifford managed to get some excellent video footage. If I can reduce the file size I will try and add it to one of the next diary entries.
Just up the road and along the Speyside Way, Scottish and Southern Power have started to dismantle the never ever used pylon power-line running from Boat of Garten to Aberdeenshire. This is part of the package which will allow them to replace the pylon line running from Beauly to Stirlingshire (following part of the A9) with a new set of huge pylons to channel power from the less than efficient wind turbines wrecking the north of Scotland to power houses and businesses south of the border. It was amazing to see how quickly the engineers worked in releasing the cables from the pylon arms prior to the cables being wound in. The guy, bottom right, really is working from a ladder just hanging from the arm of the pylon! Once the cables have been removed the pylons will be “felled” before being airlifted to a central site for dismantling. Hopefully I can photograph a bit of this work for the next diary edition. Whilst making my way to photograph the pylon engineers I found this rather odd looking ball-like growth on the ground (left). A photo has gone off to iSpot to try and get a name, so again, watch this space. In France and Italy something similar is worth a fortune, but I think this is a poor relative although a favoured food of wild boar and badgers.

Happy reading

Stewart & Janet






Cairngorms before the snows







Aspen leaves an indication of autumn









In memory of Uncle Bill (Wee nip) who passed away this month

All photos © Stewart Taylor

A month dominated by P marten

Top marks this month go to the Fisher family for sheer persistence. A week in the chalet last year brought them to within a ceilings thickness of meeting P marten as he or she was heard bounding across the chalet roof, but this year, armed with superior basic buy Tesco jam, raisins (not sultanas) and any old bread, the scene was set. Each night all these goodies were placed on the wee shelf outside the bedroom window, and each night a vigil was undertaken but without a sighting. After one particular late night vigil the family were intent on having a lie-in until at 8.30 IN THE MORNING one of the children looked up from her book to see the elusive creature heading towards the goodie shelf. Everybody up and there in broad daylight was the pine marten, on the shelf, licking the jam off the sandwich. Camera out, souvenir photo captured, though the animal was so close it was a job to fit the whole thing in the picture, and after a leisurely feed the marten headed off towards the garden. Was the marten waiting for the next audacious move? Mum opened the bedroom window and flung out a generous handful of raisins. Within minutes the marten is back to tuck into the new supply, completely ignoring the big fat juicy sultanas left out from the night before. About the same time I was up and having breakfast when I could hear the chorus of bird alarm calls from the chalet feeders. I dashed upstairs to get a better view, but saw nothing and had to guess that the marten might have been in about. The evening before I had been to Loch Morlich to look for bog orchids and as I battled with the myriad of midges (having forgotten the midge spray) I could hear two red-throated divers calling on the loch. I must let the chalet guests know just in case there were heading that way, so, as I could see them getting ready to load up the car, I popped out to give them the news. Before I could say a word I could see that the Fisher family had something much more important to tell me! “Guess what we have seen?” said everyone in unison and one by one I heard all about the part each had played in the morning’s event with mum finally getting out the camera to show me the photo that now takes pride of place in this month diary. (I think I remembered to tell them about the divers!) From first to last photo we learned that the marten was on site for about half an hour.

Saturday arrived and I recall to new arrivals Ken and Pam the successful encounter. I know from Ken’s last visit that to see a pine marten was a lifetime ambition. So the late night vigils start all over again despite me telling everyone to have a “relaxing” holiday. The jam works again and Ken and Pam have a few “after dark” encounters until one evening the marten arrives at 8.30pm with just enough light for Ken to catch everything on camera. Brilliant, and Ken’s photo also takes pride of place at the start of this diary entry. It hasn’t stopped there and all the visitors during the month managed to see the pine marten and I was even lucky enough to see P marten walking casually across the rockery on his way to sticking his head in the squirrels peanut box. So, we may have the fattest pine marten in the area also in need of dental treatment! It has been great that with a little effort, our visitors have managed to see something they though might never be possible.

August was also a busy month for craft lady (should that be person?) Janet. The first event nearly didn’t happen because of the torrential down-pour during the previous couple of days, but on a dry day the Grantown Agricultural Show went ahead. It was an early start as we headed off to help get all the tents erected for the folk selling goods at the Cairngorm Farmers Market. The attendees vary from farmers selling meat produce, to soap and candle makers and also ex-work colleague Malcolm with wife Ailsa selling some brilliant wood crafts. As the show opened there was much interest in the judging of the various sheep entries. Heftier cattle followed later in the main ring. All day long it was fun watching vans and wagons being towed through the ever deepening ruts of mud to enter and exit the show field. At all the recent craft events Janet’s own-designed bags seem to prove most popular just like the one pictured. The same day I had to dash off to the Aviemore health centre to get the troublesome knee x-rayed, showing the reason for there being almost no hill/mountain outings covered in the diary this year – osteoarthritis! Help! It still seems to work reasonably okay on the low ground though.

Two days later and we were off to the Abernethy Highland Games, tent erected the night before and daughter Laura popping over to help with sales during what turned out to be a busy day, with most of the day enjoying warn sunshine. Whilst Laura helped Janet I departed to make the most of the sun, and walk week 20 of the butterfly transect and, in the heat, it didn’t disappoint. Along the Tulloch Moor road and across the moor there were, in places, clouds of Scotch argus butterflies taking off from scabious flowers along the route, in these three sections alone 114 were counted, almost as many as would be counted in a whole season in some years. Dark-green fritillary (right), small tortoiseshell and green-veined whites were the only other species recorded. Checking back over the very crinkled weekly recording form reminds of the fun I had that day in another way. After all the rain the rivers and bogs were very full of water and on Section 11 of the transect (see http://www.ukbms.org/SiteFactsheet.aspx?siteId=51 see Species lists at bottom of page also) a short stretch of bog has to be negotiated and having been walking this route for over 30 years – not a problem. However, the normal route I take was very full of water and, knowing one tiny bit tests out the height of my wellies, I decided to take a detour to avoid the worst. All fine until I placed my foot on a nice tussock of cotton grass and down I went but ensuring the top half of my body – and my weekly recording sheet - ended up on top of the sphagnum and heather hummocks a couple feet away. As fast as I went in the bog I came out again, even though I failed to touch the bottom of the watery channel, and with pants and wellies full of water and lots of bits of sphagnum moss, I squelched my way to drier ground at the edge of the bog where I was able to tip out the water and wring out my socks. It would be interesting to know what the foreign visitors who stopped their car to ask me directions once I had reached the road said to each other as they drove off! Despite the mishap I arrived back at the Games in time for packing up the stall and tent.

The outing to Loch Morlich, mentioned earlier, proved quite interesting. I have long wondered whether some of the Abernethy bogs would be suitable for the diminutive bog orchid (left). I have seen it growing in the trickle of a small stream in the forest but have never seen it actually in a bog, so knowing it had been found at Morlich in the past, it was worth having a look to see if it was still there. Looking for something that is no more than 20mm high at best, is a good test for both back and eyesight as you wander bent over, along the edge of the bog. After a while it becomes apparent that it is unlikely to be growing in heavily vegetated sites so the search becomes narrowed down to the slightly gravellier lightly vegetated sections, still a big task in this area of many peaty pools. Persistence pays off and eventually a group of six orchids is found, but this is certainly not a plant in the top ten for stunning beauty even though it is carrying the “orchid” tag, the beauty thing is in the fact that it is hard to find, often defeating those who go in search of it. This plant has a couple of unusual features to allow it to grow in what is a watery habitat. Large roots are virtually absent these having been reduced to root hairs which have a heavy mycorrhizal (fungal) infection to provide the plant with its nutrients. The base of the plant also has what looks like a bulb from which the flowering shoot emerges. The “bulb” is actually two pseudobulbs growing one above the other, the lower one carrying the dried remains of the previous season’s leaves and the upper is surrounded by the bases of the new leaves. Time to try and capture these unusual features with the camera, ‘try’ being the operative word as, despite me carrying the “new” Nikon P7000, I was finding that this camera suffered from the same problem as earlier versions – most of the time not focusing on the “spot” in the middle of the lense. However, this version did have a manual focus feature so with lots of messing about (can’t really lie-down in a bog) I managed to capture several in-focus pictures. Over a period of four hours the peaty pools were searched and a total of 4 sites were found though the last one was a bigger test than all the rest in that all that was growing was the bulbil section described earlier (right). These bulbils may be the new plants for next year as quite often they are found growing side by side with flowering plants. A brilliant wee plant and worthy of the time taken to find. A check of similar habitat in Abernethy a few days later failed to find anything, but this bog was ten times more complicated than the ones looked at at Loch Morlich.

The start of this month also saw the completion of the Osmia bee nest box project, well the outdoor part at least, so visits were made to all the sites and the boxes taken down. A quick check of each box failed to find any occupancy but it has been suggested that any sealed cells containing next years bees, may be further down in the tubes, so this will mean lifting out the paper tubes and holding them up to the light to check. It has been a very poor summer weather-wise for these bees (and most other insects) and I will be surprised if we find anything – but watch this space. Whilst at Culbin Forest removing the nest boxes I spent a little time wandering a few tracks to look for tooth fungi and managed to find 3 species. 90% were Hydnellum peckii (Devils tooth). Yes, it’s that time of year again and, after a quick trip to Lancashire to see Janet’s mum, it was down to the serious business of track walking to carry out this year’s survey. This will be the fifth year that the Abernethy-wide survey has been carried out by myself and after this year it is hoped that a write up of the findings over these five years can be completed. On the first few outings it was looking like Hydnellum peckii and Hydnellum caeruleum (Blue tooth - left)) were appearing early but to try and keep each years survey about the same, the same tracks were being walked on the same days as in previous years. After a few outings I was able to calm down a bit as, in general, most tooth fungi seemed to be appearing at about the same time as normal. Having re-found the rare Hydnellum gracilipes with Martyn and Alan last year it would be interesting if it re-appeared at the same sites again this year. But before I had made visits to these sites something that looked to be the same fungus was found, again under heather, way out in the forest (right). Because there have been so few confirmed records of this species (I was involved in finding the only 5 known locations in the UK last year) a small sample had to be collected and the fungus placed on a glass slide for a couple of days to drop spores (left), before being dried and the whole lot sent off to Martyn at Kew for confirmation. For this first sample the news came back that yes, it was H. gracilipes so, in addition to walking the tracks for mile after mile looking slightly sideways, I was now going to be tempted to lift bits of heather in any suitable locations. Interestingly, this first find was quite different to those found last year where on most occasions, the fungus seemed to be “stuck” to the overhanging vegetation, the lifting of the heather often damaging the fungus. On this occasion, it seemed to be self-supporting, being found by parting the vegetation on top of it. With a track most days to be walked from mid-August to mid-September, I was hoping for good weather.

For a change of scene, I had the opportunity to nip over to Deeside, and with the help of Liz, be able to see one of Britain’s rarest tooth fungi and the habitat it occupied – Bankera violascens (left). First found in nearby Glenmore Forest during an international mycological gathering in the early 1990s, the Deeside location is currently, the only known UK site. Sadly, the Forestry Commission weren’t aware of the importance or the location of the Glenmore site before the Norway spruce trees were felled, and, without the tree cover and the mycorrhizal tree root association, the fungus can no longer be found. Conversely, on Deeside with awareness, the Sitka spruce trees local to where the fungus grows are being left un-managed to ensure its continued presence. The weather for the run over the tops didn’t look too bad, though heavy showers were a possibility. A visit to something so rare deserves an outing for the “big” camera, so after parking the car by the Deeside road I loaded the camera bag and tripod onto my back and made my way up the hill with a calling jay not far away. Was that a distant sound of thunder? Probably not. As I reached the site about three-quarters of an hour later, light rain started to fall, so very quickly camera, tripod etc was assembled and a few photos taken of the fungus and the track bank (right) on which it was growing. By now the rain was becoming serious and the umbrella was erected and waterproofs donned. With the umbrella protecting the camera bag full of gear I had a quick look around the track and managed to find a new tooth fungi for the site Sarcodon squamosus (Scaly tooth). As the rain got heavier there was a clap of thunder right overhead – time to make a swift exit, and, to try and shelter the less-than waterproof camera-bag, I had to carry it on my front so the tiny walker’s umbrella could keep the worst of the rain away! The most thunderous welcome I have had yet on Deeside! Visits to a couple of mature local spruce woods failed to find any additional sites.

It was the next butterfly transect walk that produced the biggest surprise. Something I had seen on an earlier visit had casually been recorded as Devils tooth as I pushed on with the butterfly count. On this visit though the Devils tooth identification didn’t ring true so I took a few photos (left) and a small sample to check once home. The edge of the cap of the sample collected told me immediately that I was looking at something unusual in that it had a slight blue hue, and once home it looked like I was dealing with Hynellum concrescens, a species only recorded once before on Abernethy. Once again the identification was confirmed by Martyn, and another piece was added to the tooth fungi jig-saw puzzle as the sample was sent off for full DNA analysis.

By the end of August the Garten ospreys had departed and there were lots of swallow families whizzing about overhead. The last willow warblers, spotted flycatchers and tree pipits were recorded and as I wandered the tracks there were lots more jays around than I have ever heard before. A visit to the Garten bog to look for orchids wasn’t in vain as I came across that brilliant bog resident the raft spider (Dolomedes fimbriatus) floating on the surface of the water. Towards the end of the month I received an interesting email from BSBI County Recorder Ian, about a plant I have spent quite a bit of time looking for this summer – hairy stonecrop (left). He had spent a little time like myself, visiting the approximate location of one of the old records and he didn’t just find one or two plants like me, he found hundreds, showing, to a degree, how it may have grown in the past at the other sites. This I had to see and though the growing season for the plant was well advanced, there were a few flowers still present. So there I was, camera on tripod and bum in the air when I hear a voice behind me asking if I’m alright. Obviously someone wandering around in a slightly unusual area had got the local gamekeeper worried. He was probably more worried by what he found I was really up to!

Finally, the camera saga came to yet another end late in the month. Out of focus pictures, a fault with some of the manual settings I had had enough and, once again, the camera was returned. Quite sad really because the camera took great portraits and landscapes but, for close ups I was always cursing. So, if you take lots of close ups steer clear of the Coolpix P7000 well at least until Nikon make the spot focus work properly. The replacement this time has taken me back into the SLR world with the compromise being the Nikon D3100 coupled with their brand new 40mm macro lens (right). Almost twice the price but at least I am back in control and you can even turn that bit on the lense to focus. No doubt you will see some of the output over the next few months.

All the best
Stewart & Janet






Abernethy Highland Games sales team










A vertical SSSI in Lancashire









Loch Garten landscape via Coolpix P7000



All photos © Stewart Taylor apart from the pine martens

Six-spots galore

As I type all around there is the sound of young buzzards mewing, lots of fungi popping out of the ground and small groups of curlews can be heard calling overhead as they leave the strath at the end of their breeding season. It must be August and time to catch up on events during July at home and over the sea.

All the data from the bird’s-foot trefoil survey was written up and delivered on the 1st before pedalling off to check on a local common twayblade site at the local gun club site at Tomachrochar. This is a rare plant locally, the first record of the orchid at this site was in 1975 and appears in Mary McCallum Webster’s Flora of Moray, Nairn and East Inverness-shire as “many plants in a hollow on the open moor between the road and Tomachrochar”. Three years ago I re-found the plant but the many had turned to 3 and the plants comprised leaves and a single flower spike just a couple of inches high seemingly unable to grow to full size (left). This was the case again this year but whether there are more to be found I don’t know, the farmer being unwilling to sanction a search of the wider area. The twayblades occur on the edge of an amazing group of northern marsh orchids and right on the stance used for “clay” shooting by the gun club members. Despite trampling feet and a small amount of mowing(?), all seem to survive okay. As I had parked my bike by the gate at the road the first thing that caught my eye was a 6-spot burnet moth, zooming around bird’s-foot trefoil and fragrant orchids. The moth seems to be getting well established locally after first being seen at the Flowerfield lesser butterfly orchid site about five years ago. At that time this was the only inland site for the moth well away from its normal coastal haunts. A tiny moth also visiting the trefoils turned out to be the grass rivulet, something I hadn’t seen for a while. Having checked the twayblades I pedalled on to Tomdhu to see if I could find any frog orchids. On the B970 road verge I spotted a few clover flowers (right) and parking the bike I found a nice flowering patch of zigzag clover (Trifolium medium) with its very distinctive leaves and flowers – worth having a look at if you know of a patch locally or keep an eye open for it when visiting the coast where it can be quite common. The Tomdhu field I was heading for is quite amazing and comes as near as anything locally to the magnificent Hebridean machair. All around were seed heads of the earlier flowering yellow rattle, masses of bird’s-foot trefoil and rockrose, and developing heads of knapweeds and scabious, food for the bees in August and September. Looking for a short-stemmed green orchid in amongst grasses and other plants demanded a bit of careful searching whilst watching where feet were being placed, all in a bit of a rush as the same farmer has never been keen on my visits! A 6-spot burnet (left) went whizzing by (another site) and perched on a rockrose flower was a northern brown argus butterfly, not a bad start. Eventually a couple of frog orchids were found and on my way back to my bike, a loose group of six were seen, so all was well on the orchid front. It would be interesting to know just how many frog orchids this amazing wee field supports – perhaps one day…. The same day saw the start of a major marathon to try and buy a new compact camera, but more of that anon.

My wonky knee from the last diary made me miss an opportunity to look for round-leaved wintergreen (Pyrola rotundifolia) at the end of June, but with a bit of TLC, a bit of massage and the odd ibuprofen, a visit to Deeside seemed worth the risk early in July. To cut down on walking I decided to take my bike for the few miles of vehicle track, hiding it in the heather when I reached the start of the path into the hills. The weather stayed true to the forecast and for once it was shirt sleeve conditions, with the jacket left with the bike. Apart from never having seen this wintergreen before the aim of the visit was also to see the sort of habitat in which the plant grew, with this particular site being both rocky and slightly lime-rich. Mary McCallum Webster lists a couple of sites close to home where the plant had previously been recorded but neither of which could be classed as lime-rich, but more about one of these sites later. With the sun shinning a few four-spot chasers and a single golden-ringed dragonfly were on the wing as I passed a small lochan, and as I got closer to the wintergreen site the heather moorland gave way to rocky scree with masses of rockrose, kidney vetch and bird’s-foot trefoil. The rare Osmia inermis mason bee (cousin of the one I had been erecting nest boxes for this summer) had also been recorded from the site in 2001, so I left the path and visited patches of flowers just in case the bee was on the wing (see http://www.hbrg.org.uk/Solitaries/Osmia/OsmiaMain.html for background to the bees). The bee wasn’t found but by checking the flowers a northern brown argus butterfly was seen and the amazingly colourful moth Pyrausta ostrinalis (above right). Suddenly, in front of me, appeared one of the most beautiful/amazing group of flowers I have seen in a long time, it was just like coming across folwers growing in the Alps but this was Scotland and this was round-leaved wintergreen (left). Green leaves, red stems and white flowers, all growing out of the rocks and with each flower showing the most distinctive identification feature of the plant, a down-turned style protruding from each of the flowers (right). In all, three distinct groups of wintergreens were found, possibly all one population originally, and higher up the scree a huge patch of white flowers turned out to be wood vetch (Vicia sylvatica). Two groups of Gold Duke of Edinburgh folk made their way along the path below probably oblivious to me and the botanical wonders they were passing through. Back at the bike more DoE participants were passing by, the second group looking at me enviously as I free-wheeled down the hill towards the road. An unusual bird call stopped me in my tracks and my stab at it being a young cuckoo was confirmed when a pair of meadow pipits disappeared up into an ancient Scots pine to feed their “giant” offspring. What a brilliant day.

Armed with a description of the wintergreen and knowing the sort of habitat it liked, I set off the next day to a hillside with rocky scree just to the east of the B9007 road from Duthil, one of the general locations given in Mary’s book. Popping out of the scree were several clumps of lemon-scented fern, with its distinctive sori on the very edge of the underside of the leaflets. Crushing a few leaves the scent of lemons is released, hence the English name. In places a few wintergreen leaves were found, but without flowering stems, the leaf shape suggesting Pyrola media or intermediate wintergreen. In many places the scree was a bit too loose for plants to grow but just occasionally a less steep section allowed some vegetation to become established. As I approached one of these less steep sections my heart skipped a beat because there, in full green, red and white glory, was a group of wintergreen plants (left). Could this be the long-lost round-leaved wintergreen? Everything looked the same as the Deeside plants – apart from the style protruding from the white flowers. Protruding it was, but it lacked the down-turned bend so distinctive of the real thing (right). This was definitely intermediate wintergreen, but without care I could see how easily a mis-identification could be made. The name “round-leaved” wintergreen is also very unhelpful as all the wintergreens have round leaves to varying degrees, so checking the style is vital in making the correct identification. This site also lacked any hint of lime-richness and as the day progressed more and more intermediate wintergreens were found though none mimicked Pyrola rotundifolia as well as the first flowering patch on the scree. A second visit a few days later to check more of the area failed to re-find the plant but a red admiral and a hill-side full of fruiting wild strawberry plants showed that some base-rich habitat was present. A distant wailing black-throated diver reminded me that my walk had taken me in the general direction of Lochindorb, their traditional breeding site. I couldn’t seem to get away from looking for wintergreen plants and the next day I was out with a few local folk to help the Cairngorms Rare Plants Officer search a section of Scots pine woodland near Cromdale for wintergreens and twinflower ahead of the owners thinning the woods later in the year. The woodland floor was home to masses of creeping lady’s tresses, and a known site for twinflower and intermediate wintergreen. A couple more sites were found for wintergreen and on the last sweep of the wood yours truly managed to find a tiny patch of twinflower. The forester would be given all the locations so that a bit of care could be taken to avoid damaging them at thinning time.

On the 13th I placed an order, for the third time, for a new camera! In an effort to carry less camera weight on my outings I was trying to upgrade my compact camera from my Coolpix P5000 to the P7000. In an effort to save money I placed my first order with a company(?) called Camerabox (avoid), and when the camera didn’t arrive I found I was dealing with a dodgy company as I found out too late after googling their name. Thankfully the credit card company re-funded me my outlay. My second order went to ‘Great Deals’ at Amazon – yes, The Amazon, but the camera that arrived was not UK/European stock, though this was not mentioned by the company and I only found out when loading some of the software. Angry emails, ‘Great Deals’ disappeared from the Amazon website and I was promised my money back. Third time lucky I went to a company I could talk to on the phone and someone I had dealt with before – Park Cameras. Camera arrived next day, was UK stock, and has been in the rucksack ever since. The timing was critical, the camera arriving just two days before we departed for our holiday in South Uist. Phew!

Heading off on holiday the weather looked dire, heavy rain and strong winds, it was so wet when we got to the ferry terminal at Uig on Skye, we spent a couple of hours sheltering in the car (left). However, on South Uist things looked a lot better, and for the whole of our holiday we only had one wet day – amazing! After a day of travel our first day was a car-less day and we ambled down towards the shore counting a few lesser butterfly orchids as we went. We had several fly-bys from a short-eared owl which was feeding big young nearby and Janet spotted our first hen harrier. After counting a wee group of orchids I noticed a small, pale moth perched on a clover head and obligingly it let me take its photograph. With the help of iSpot (http://www.ispot.org.uk/node/193071 ) it was identified as Evergesstis pallidata, a micro-moth, and a new species for the Western Isles. On the shore we saw our first six-spot burnet moth, the first of many and here in its more typical habitat rather than the moorland habitat of Tulloch Moor. The next day, as the sun started to shine at almost full power we made contact with our first Northern colletes bees (Colletes floralis right), and an evening wander to check out sand dunes near the cottage, more breeding holes were found. As I scanned the further dunes for suitable nest hole sites I could see a couple of people walking by them and after they stopped I was quite sure that I saw a bird flying up from where they were – very odd! A couple of minutes later and another bird took to the air and I then knew I was either watching some illegal activity or bird ringers in action, worth a look. As I got nearer I could see the billowing black shape of a mist-net, behind which were the distinct holes of a small sand martin colony, something quite rare out on the islands. I said hello and introduced myself and over the next hour watch a dozen or so adult and juvenile birds measured, weighed and ringed before being released. After the last catch and release the nets were furled ready for another, last session in the early morning and after our cheerios I made my way back to the car passing a couple of calling corncrakes and a corn bunting singing from the top of a ‘Passing Place’ sign. Brilliant.

The daily view to the east of our cottage was the dramatic outline of the highest “hills” (there are no mountains as such on the Uists) in the Uists, Hecla on the left, Ben Corodate in the middle and the highest at 620m, Beinn Mhor on the right. Over the years I have photographed this outline many times from across the waters of Loch Druidibeg (right) in the north to the backdrop to many of the scattered houses of the wee communities in the south. Lost in the low clouds on some days and topped with cotton-wool clouds in blue skies on others. I also harboured a hope that on this visit the summit cairn of Beinn Mhor would be visited. A visit to the Baghasdal area of South Uist allowed us to catch up with the crafts exhibited at Kildonan and to visit Glendale where we saw our last young cuckoo of the year. The beach walk took us to the dunes near Dalabrog where we found an 11-spot ladybird and, close to the cemetery, a single pyramidal orchid. As the sun deserted us the temperature dropped due to the persistent north wind, lots of Northern colletes bees were found on the ragwort flowers, possibly too cold to make it back to their holes. And there, beckoning in the background was the mile long ridge of Beinn Mhor. Damn it, tomorrow I will have to get the summit challenge out of my system.

The next day I armed myself with Sheet 22 of the OS map series and Janet with the map of the places participating in this years “Art on the Map” exhibitions. She headed north, I headed up! Leaving the road I crossed the hollowed out sections of peat moor where the crofters had, for centuries, cut peat for fuel. This year’s fuel was drying nicely in the sun. Away from the active workings both round-leaved and long-leaved sundews started to appear and yes, you’ve guessed it, there was Ivan’s paddle, the hybrid between the two. Following the burn up into Coire Dubh I encountered large numbers of common hawker dragonflies and in a wee gully roseroot (left) and beech fern. A large patch of scattered white feathers turned out to be the remains of a greater black-back gull, caught and plucked by either a golden or sea eagle. Exiting the Coire I was on the start of the ridge to the summit and, just in case the clouds descended, I took a GPS reading. The ridge to the summit was not difficult with the option to go over rock Torrs or go round them. In the distance, out to sea, were the lumps of rock known as St. Kilda (right). Damp rocks forming the cliffs to the north-east of the summit tempted me down a little, but time was not on my side (though the wonky knee was doing me proud) so I didn’t wander too far from the ridge and eventually the summit trig-point was reached. However, another cairn about half a mile away offered brilliant views of our old home of Rum, so I headed there to have a late lunch and inform Janet re progress. The view to Rum didn’t disappoint even though it was a bit hazy, and lunch was accompanied by acrobatic ravens overhead, views to the watery lands below and St. Kilda in the distance. Oh, I forgot, and dozens of sheep. Now the difficult bit, getting back down, something wonky knees are not good at. The quickest route seemed to be a straight line from the ridge to the track to the peat-workings, and at six-o-clock I phoned Janet to ask for a lift from the road back to the cottage. I must be getting old, a few years ago I would have skipped over all three peaks, checked out the cliffs AND walked back to the cottage. The view to Beinn Mhor from the cottage looked just a little different that night.

We made the following day an “easy” day and headed for the South Uist Agricultural Show where it was nice to catch up with some of the RSPB staff. There was great interest in the stock judging with sheep and cattle making their way through the ring to be poked and prodded to allow the judge to see their best features. This is the show where Father Roddy McAulay from the BBC series Island Parish exhibited his prize cockerel in 2010 in a successful effort to wrest the first prize from the regular winner Flora Campbell. We missed all this excitement as the hens had already been judges by the time we got there and, with Fr. Roddy having moved to pastures new, the outcome reverted to the norm. Perhaps the most amazing feature of the day was associated with the riders and horses being judged in an adjacent field. Janet commented that she thought the ground was moving as the horses were cantering by and sure enough, when we watched carefully the bouncing of the horses was causing the ground to ripple, the whole field being a part of a peat-bog! Weird.
An outing to Eriskay took place on a day of warm sunshine with stunning views across the sea to Barra. A singing whitethroat by the road just before the causeway was unusual and masses of red clover and kidney vetch on the landscaped verges as we drove onto Eriskay was absolutely stunning. We parked up by The Politician pub and picnicked above the shore in amongst the machair flowers with a local profusion of stunted field gentians and dark-green fritillaries whizzing by. We headed across the bay towards the ferry terminal, Janet paddling in the sea and me wandering along the edges of the dunes looking for Colletes bee colonies. I stopped to GPS a small colony in an ex-quarry and suddenly realised that I was almost trampling a group of pyramidal orchids, a couple of which were deep purple in colour (left). Looking round there were a few more and down the bank even more, over 70 in total a big population for this part of the world. At the end of the bay the ferry came and went depositing cars and a few cyclists, the cyclists facing a very steep climb over a hill to get to the main township on the island before heading onwards to the causeway. As we got back to the car a golden eagle soared overhead being harried by a couple of ravens. Amazing.

We spent our last day in the Uists at Bornish, the archaeology suggesting that this wee outcrop into the sea may have been a look-out station during the last war. We lunched watching a group of seals determined not to be washed off their rocks by the rising tide. A couple of plants on the edge of the small lochan were unusual and turned out to be thread-leaved crowfoot and fool’s watercress. It was again sunny but windy and we failed to find the target for the day – grayling butterflies. On the way back to the cottage Janet popped into the pottery with the giant great auks in the garden, and as we were just setting off again a huge birds took off from close to the road and flapped right over the car trying to gain height. We both agreed sea eagle as I tried to stop the car safely whilst trying to grab the camera with the big lens to try and capture the moment (right). By the time I had got the camera out and working the eagle had started to gain height but it was still possible to see the white tail between the barn-door sized wings. I had one last evening botanising on Mid-Loch Ollay and as I was puzzling over what I had found (lesser water plantain) a sunset was developing and as I turned to head back for the car a red-throated diver, heading for the sea, flew overhead calling. Despite the gathering midges, it was a perfect end to the holiday. Next day we sailed across a mill-pond sea, saw Skye in the sunshine and arrived home at teatime. The following day chalet preparations, and with the sun still shining it was off to walk the butterfly transect before grass cutting, it’s amazing how quickly you slot back into the old routine!

Enjoy the read

Stewart & Janet

Uist folk have to pay £1.54 for a litre of petrol

Janet visits an Art on the Map venue

Isle of Rum from Beinn Mhor

All photos © Stewart Taylor