A month about Dickie and his twinflower finds

The early part of April was mixed with Janet off to see her mum for a week and grandson Finlay continuing his chest infection with short bouts in hospital. Thankfully all back to normal now and granddad is back to getting beat in the back garden version of football. Archie’s assistance in finding things continued when a visit

together to one of my “important” aspens at Insh to look for spiders produced a record of the rare moss Orthotricum obtusifolium, a moss I had only seen once before. Early in the month we managed an overnight low of -11 degrees C followed a few days later with couple of inches of snow. A rise in temperature brought rain on the 14th and with the temperature in double figures for a few days, snow on the hills saw a rapid thaw. As waders and wildfowl began to settle in on RSPB Insh Marshes reserve, the whole marsh area disappeared under water (above), hopefully, for the last time during this breeding season.

I suppose the biggest national event of the month was topping of the record charts by the ‘Ding Dong’ song from the Wizard of Oz. There are some very devious thinkers out there. Slightly horrified by the cost of the ceremonial funeral for Britain’s longest serving prime minister of modern times, I decided to disappear out of the house to leave Janet to watch the proceedings in peace, despite light rain. Amazingly, the rain played a part in what would be found that day. Parking up by the quarry on the road to Loch Garten, I checked a lone aspen, without success, for the wee twig fungus covered in the last diary. A patch of bare gravel by the

road has the tell-tale ear-like apothecia of what I call the “diddy lichen” (being hopeless at remembering the correct Latin name) known in the books as Peltigera didactyla. The rain was killing off the bird song with just the occasional chaffinch and coal tit declaring their territories. On a wee track leading away from the road the verge at one location had been quite badly disturbed by a visiting dog so I thought placing a nearby fallen pine branch on top of the hole might deter more digging. This track is quite important in the tooth fungi world, being the same track where Hydnellum gracilipes was re-discovered in 2010. As I placed the small branch over the hole I noticed some small, black, fungal cups poking up through the bark of one of the thinner branches (above right), cups not too dissimilar to the ones I had been finding on the aspen twigs. Similar but not the same, so a few were sliced from the branch for checking at home. A little further along the track, amazingly, another set of cups were found on another fallen pine branch, not bad considering the

cups were no more than 2-3mm diameter, and had probably swollen a little due to the rain. It looked like this was going to be something fairly common, though not something I could remember seeing previously. Back home and Big Ben had been switched back on and was chiming once again, and a tiny drop of water was applied to the fungus in preparation for cutting tiny sections for checking under the microscope. A photo was taken of a cross-section of the fungus (above left) whilst even thinner slices were “squashed” prior to being checked at x1000 magnification to see if spores could be found. Plenty of spores were visible and these were measured (slightly banana shaped and 1 x 7µ (microns ie 1/1000th of a millimetre) and photographed via the camera tube on the microscope. “Black cup fungus on Pinus sylvestris branch” was typed into Google but despite lots of searching, nothing similar was found so photos were sent to expert Liz

to see if she could help. Liz’s suggestion was a fungus by the amazing name of Ionomidotis fulvotingens, though it had never been found on Scot pine before. Its identity could be fully confirmed if one of the cups produced a red/brown pigment if wetted with the chemical, potassium hydroxide, something which happened instantly as I watched the reaction under the microscope. The fungal records database of Britain and Ireland showed just 19 records, all from broadleaved trees and with just 2 records from Scotland both made by Liz herself! So, yet another species to look for and by the end of April another half-dozen finds had been made – all from Scots pine. Interestingly, two recent finds of this fungus on the database were by Martyn Ainsworth and Alan Lucas, the two people who helped re-find Hydnellum gracilipes on the track mentioned earlier. Amazing, and all thanks to Maggie!

The threats from huge housing developments locally started to raise their heads again and two emails received on 26th told of applications being made for 96 houses in Carrbridge and 58 houses in School Wood in Nethybridge, both being the subject of earlier applications. In addition I had been asked to look for any species of importance (that I could identify) at a planning application site in Kingussie, as mentioned

in the last diary. I’ll not mention the 1500 houses on Rothiemurchus Estate. Reading through the environmental survey information for the Kingussie site I found a reference for a tiny patch of a rare lichen locally – Peltigera britannica – having been found by the surveyor, though in the report he wasn’t 100% certain that the ID was correct. An approximate grid reference was given along with a poor photo of the general area, and, because the record hadn’t found its way onto the local or national databases, I thought it was worth trying to re-locate it. As I made my way across the fields, the proposed housing site, I disturbed a group of oystercatchers and a couple of foraging mistle thrushes. As I made my way down towards Ardbroilach Road I entered the strip of woodland (now outside the footprint of the development site) where the lichen had been found. Eventually I found the leaning birch tree in the photo and after a bit of searching around found what looked like a suitable site, a bit of rock, jutting out of the wooded slope. Sure enough, a

tiny scrap of Petligera was there, and looking at the wee black dots on the leaf of the lichen, it was indeed P. britannica. The lichen was growing just a few metres from a wall running along the side of Ardbroilach Road, overhung by many of the trees I was standing in. To me, the rocky wall looked a more suitable site for the lichen and sure enough when I peeped over it I could see more of the leafy lichen. Clambering down onto the road there wasn’t just a small population, but huge patches of leafy growth over about 50 metres of the wall, potentially the largest known population in the area. A hugely important bit of wall and something local folk need to be made aware of. Next job. Even better news arrived today as I type. A letter has arrived informing me that the planning application for the houses has been withdrawn. Hopefully sense will now prevail and an application will be made for a smaller development aimed at servicing the needs of folk working and living locally. Sadly an email arrived today informing me that a fresh planning application would be made in June!

During April it was possible to undertake three of the possible five butterfly transects though all of them were walked in less than ideal conditions. The east to north wind direction all month has meant that even when the sun has been shining, temperatures have only just reached the bare minimum required for the walks to take place at 12 to 13 degrees C. Consequently each visit has meant that a pleasant walk has been made around the eleven sections but with little hope of seeing any butterflies. By the end of the month just few small tortoiseshells had been seen, mostly in sheltered sections of road and farm fields where the temperature was a couple of degrees higher. Flower growth has also been poor and for those butterflies on the wing, food

must have been hard to come by. Similarly, bumblebees have been scarce with a few along with a few honey bees visiting the catkins of local goat willows at the end of the month. The first swallows were seen over Tulloch Moor whilst looking for butterflies and the birch woods of Insh produced the first willow warbler, tree pipit and redstart. If the weather stays the same as currently I doubt we will see any swifts this year as there won’t be enough insects in the air for them to feed. The Loch Garten ospreys have again been having fun and games with the male bird breaking the first two eggs to be laid possibly thinking they weren’t his own. Amazingly the female produced four eggs so the pair of them are now sharing the incubation of the two surviving eggs. Starlings are nesting in two of the Firwood boxes and also in the chimney of the house being re-furbished across the road. We also have a blackbird nesting in the conifer hedge by the garage and blue tits in the usual box close to the chalet. Good luck to all of them. There are also changes taking place in the middle of the village with a new path and bridge connecting the road by Firwood with the Speyside Way path in the village. This arrangement still means a section of the Spey Way has to be negotiated on the road past Firwood, but eventually it is hoped to by-pass all the houses so the path joins with the Spey Way just up the road from our house. A pond is to be dug shortly, adjacent to the walk-way and the dense conifer wood close to the football pitch/highland games field is being thinned out. It will be good when everything is finished and the earth-works have settled down.

So, what about Professor George Dickie? It all starts with a visit to a part of Abernethy Forest to look for an aspen tree. During the 1980s whilst the Warden of the RSPB Loch Garten Reserve (the fledgling Abernethy Forest Reserve) an area known as Garten Wood was bought from the investment arm of a

pension fund and a start was made repairing some of the damage done to woodland and forest bog habitats. Bogs had been drained and most areas of woodland planted up mainly with Scots pine, thankfully without ploughing up the place, and also exotic conifers had been planted in the wetter sites. Over a few years the exotic conifers were removed and large areas of plantation Scots pine thinned, with several winters spent attached to the handles of a chainsaw. Novel management techniques were trialled, high stumps were left to decay for crested tits, the tops cut off some of the easier to climb trees (yes, off the ground and without a harness), and some areas left to thin themselves. In the bogs, once the exotic conifers had been removed, log and peat dams were built to stop the flow of water and to re-wet the previous areas of bog woodland. Today, some of these restored bogs look like they have never been interfered with, the sedges and sphagna

are back and on some sites the stunted Scots pines have slowed their growth to start to resemble true bog pines. Dragonflies abound and many bogs are home to the brilliant raft spider (above right) Dolomedes fimbriatus. By thinning out the dense planted pines many birch and rowan trees survived creating the most diverse (though still young) area of mixed species woodland in Abernethy. As the woodland was changing a new method of monitoring birds was trialled, point counts, based on a grid one hundred metres square across the woodland area, where birds would be counted for five minute periods as you worked your way through the woodland from point to point. Early one morning (counts had to be completed before 8am) at

point count location 25, I noticed a very young patch of twinflower starting to spread, growing out over the heaps of brash from the woodland thinning work. As I made my way to where I thought the aspen tree was I thought I would re-visit this patch just to say hello for old-times sake, and was amazed by just how far the runners of the plant had spread. The leaves of the plant though looked a bit odd with most leaves covered in black dots. Being a member of the British Plant Gall Society I thought it worth taking a photo of the leaves along with just a couple of specimens to see if the dots could be identified. I began to wonder what I had found when there was nothing listed in the British Plant Galls book (Redfern and Shirley), and with twinflower being a rare plant, I wondered whether the black dots (fungal rust, smut whatever) could also be rare. A couple of the black dots were removed from the leaves and checked under the microscope to see if there were any spores but none could be found, so time to send off a few emails complete with leaf and microscope photos to the experts. Brilliant Liz was the first to respond and suggested the name of Metacoleroa dickiei (big dots on leaves above), a species she had seen on twinflower leaves on Deeside.

The next email was from Martyn at Kew who suggested the same name but asked for a few leaves to be 100% sure. On receiving the leaves Martyn confirmed that the ascomycete fungus was indeed M. dickiei but also let me know that he had found a second smaller fungus on the same leaves (small dots on leaf above)! A week later the name of Sphaerulina leightonii was confirmed for the second fungus. There are, currently 7 records on the fungal database for M. dickiei the first of which was made by Dickie in 1845, and just 3 for S. leightonii, only one of which has a collectors name attached, W. A Leighton in the 1850s. For both records Dickie and Leighton where the first people in Britain, nay the world, to find and describe the two species. In the case of S. leightonii my collection (identified though by Kew) is probably the first, in the field, since the fungus was first described. Slightly unreal! Interestingly, this isn’t my first encounter with Prof Dickie. A few years ago I was asked by work colleague Andy, to keep an eye open for a small fern found

growing occasionally, under old road bridges. A fern I found under a bridge at Glenlivet turned out to be the one – Cystopteris dickieana – Dickie’s bladder fern (above left and underleaf sporangia above right)). A botanist AND mycologist of note. And so, a round of visits started to check other twinflower patches to see how regular both fungi occurred and with both species turning up at most sites. However, at one twinflower patch in Abernethy I spotted something that looked a little different and leaves from that location are now at Kew being checked to see if any spores can be found. No spores, no name, so fingers crossed the team at Kew (Martyn and Puni) manage to find something. And the aspen tree? I failed to find it and now begin to wonder whether I imagined my sighting or perhaps George Dickie lent a guiding hand? So far I’ve found M. dickiei at 13 sites and S. leightonii on the same leaves at 7 of the sites and on its own at 1 site. There is no doubt that these fungi are relatively common locally on twinflower leaves, and if I had the time to go round all the known sites in the area, we could accumulate a lot more records. Many thanks go to the team at Kew for all their help.

Late in the month a recce visit was made to the location I had been allocated for this years BTO woodcock survey, a repeat of one carried out ten years ago. Indications from the breeding bird atlas returns in the intervening period, had suggested there had been a decline in the breeding woodcock population, so a good time to do a repeat survey. The site allocated to me was one that had been surveyed previously and was one

of the locations generated at random where woodland was shown on the ordnance survey maps, allowing for an even spread of recording location across suitable habitat in the UK. My site was near Carr Bridge and not too far away from the amazing hump-backed Sluggan Bridge built on the route of one of General Wade’s roads in 1728. A recce was needed as the recording visit would start 15 minutes before sunset and the recording period was to be 75 minutes meaning exiting the site just after dark. The recording location turned out to be on a forestry track in semi-mature plantation woodland so finding my way back to the exit track, through plantation woodland, in the dark, could be fun.

One major recording outing in April was a trip over to Deeside to a couple of aspen stands to see if the wee aspen cup fungus could be found there. I knew of the small wood at Crathie but had never visited the one at the Muir of Dinnet NNR. The run over the tops was quite impressive being not too many weeks after the

snow and wind had caused so many roads in the Aberdeenshire area to be closed. The snow on one side of the road to the Lecht ski centre was five to ten feet deep, and all the way down to Crathie on the infamous A939 road, you could see where JCB’s and other heavy machinery had been used to cut through the snow drifts which at the time were just too deep for the normal snow-ploughs to tackle. Red grouse searching for food and winter-coated mountain hares were regularly seen on the roadside snowfields, and lots of skiers were making the most of pretty good conditions. The Dinnet aspens are very impressive, with many old trees but also a big effort by SNH to protect young trees from grazing animals. A little worrying though were

the number of mature aspens which had snapped off at their bases, something having weakened the trees at just above root level. This is something I have never seen in all the aspen woods I have visited where the trees seem to be amazingly strong, despite natural areas of decay being present on many trees. Trees occasionally blow over, but in those cases the root-plate ends up in the air but still attached to the tree. No root-plates were seen at Dinnet, indicating that this was probably a fungal infection and not a wind-blow event. Fallen trees though meant lots of decaying twigs and branches the ideal habitat for the wee black cups of the Encoelia fascicularis fungus. My first find was on a small twig just lying on the ground and an age was spent photographing and taking notes just in case this was to be the only find. However, the twigs and branches of the next fallen aspen had a good population followed by the next and the next, developing into what has to be the biggest population currently known about in the UK. The fungus wasn’t just on the twigs as has

been the case with earlier finds, but there were large numbers of cups popping up through the bark of quite big branches (above left) making me annoyed with myself for not bringing the bigger camera and normal sized tripod. My tiny gorillapod tripod isn’t much use for anything more than a foot from the ground. The main thing though was that the fungus had been found at a new location, a first for Aberdeen-shire and adding another site to the few others currently in Scotland. Amazingly, I also found a tiny population in the aspen wood at Crathie. I also came across a private grave-yard on the edge of the Dinnet aspens, the enclosing wall providing me with a few unusual lichens and mosses, the most photogenic being the moss Schistidium crassipilum with its red capsules (above right) and growing on the top of the wall. A puss moth larval case was also found on one of the aspens, another new record for the NNR.

That’s it for another month, enjoy the read.

Stewart and Janet

Web links from the diary above.

George Dickie (1812-82).
Born (and died) in Aberdeen, became lecturer in botany at King's College there, then professor of natural history at the new University of Belfast (1849), and finally professor of botany at Aberdeen University (1860). Best known as an algologist, in his The Botanist's Guide to the Counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine, 1860, the 200 species of fungi are arranged according to Berkeley's English Flora, 1836. Ramsbottom (1963): 171; SC 1:

For NBN Gateway see:
http://data.nbn.org.uk/

The Fungal Records Database of Britain and Ireland (twinflower fungi)
http://www.fieldmycology.net/FRDBI/FRDBIrecord.asp?intGBNum=9066

http://www.fieldmycology.net/FRDBI/FRDBIrecord.asp?intGBNum=12177

Sluggan Bridge
http://www.carrbridge.com/index.php/History/bridges.html

BTO Woodcock Survey
http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/woodcock-survey

Muir of Dinnet
http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/designatedareas/muir_dinnet_nnr.pdf

Blown soil in Moray

Robin and crocuses

Red grouse at the Lecht


Photos © Stewart Taylor

Archie’s Grimmia find at Ruthven Barracks

I suppose the good thing in this part of the world during the latter part of March was that we missed the falls of drifting snow experienced elsewhere in the UK, somewhat weird being in a notorious part of the country for snow, and, thankfully, not getting much. We weren’t though immune from the cold easterlies that prevailed for the second half of the month and even with some sunny days at the end of the month, extra layers were needed when out looking for things. The lowest temperature was on the 31st at -11 degrees C.  See River Nethy ice sculpture.

The last two days were exceptional for sun with the bright sphere rising at dawn and not disappearing until official sunset time. Whilst all the wind-farms locally hardly turned a blade in the still, cold weather, the PV panels on the roof produced 20 kilowatts of power each day! Interestingly in the last week of March last year we were basking in 20+ degrees C of warm sunshine, the earliest records locally for several moths and butterflies were made and I even had a dragonfly whizz through the garden! The last week of the month also saw Janet and myself house-bound as we took on the role of “real” grandparents, looking after Archie whilst brother Finlay travelled between doctors and hospital with a severe chest infection. We are now both expert Lego builders, it would be useful though if the suppliers included a few more of those fiddly little pieces that take the place of indicators on the corners of the cars!

With daughter Ruth now living in Insh, close to the RSPB Insh Marsh Reserve, walks from her house quite often lead us onto the reserve and in particular, through the amazing stands of mature aspen trees. An outing in 2010 with Brian and Sandy Coppins to these aspens was my first real experience of aspen lichens – they

were there surveying the trees to identify those most important for their lichen populations (see Firwood Diary February 2010) to aid future management. In passing, I have looked at a few of the trees found in 2010 to see what has happened to some of the rare lichens, and to be able to monitor any major changes accurately rather than just visually , I thought it would be best to repeat my close up photographs taken in 2010. One of the rarest locally is the “eagle claw lichen” (Anaptychia ciliaris) still only known from just the one tree at Insh – despite much personal searching in the wider area – and the repeat photo showed that very little had changed over three years. The other rarity was Collema nigrescens, again, only found on a single tree at Insh – its only known location within Strathspey – and here the repeat photo showed that quite

a bit had changed, (top photo 2010, bottom photo 2013) with a loss of a fair percentage of the lichen over three years. This lichen is growing low down on the main stem of the tree and is probably vulnerable to damage from passing mammals. This tree along with its near neighbours comprises a group of aspens with probably the biggest populations of rare lichens in the area. Many of the trees have canker damage and some are in the early stages of dying, two conditions which seem to be ideal for the bonny wee pinhead Sclerophora pallida. Bits of detached bark lying on the ground by a couple of the populated trees contained more pinheads (100’s) than can be found on many of the other whole trees with the lichen within the Strath! This lichen also appears in the February 2010 Diary.

One recent outing involved a walk through Insh village and on to Ruthven Barracks, with grandson Archie in charge of the camera for part of the time. A photo of me by the local footpath sign was achieved after excellent shots of my feet, my legs and the pine needles on the track! Spiders were searched for under fallen

logs and plant galls were found on juniper and willow bushes and an amazing ‘find’ of a kitkat by the track allowed for sustenance along the way. On the way to Ruthven Barracks whooper swans were spied on the marshes and curlews were heard despite the cold day. The now resident greylag geese were also feeding in many roadside fields. The sun was out tempting buzzards to display overhead and a few fieldfares were seen searching for food in fields with local mistle thrushes. At Ruthven Barracks the builders had completed their repairs and the scaffolding which had been protruding from various bits of the barracks had now been removed. Archie managed to visit most accessible bits of the building accompanied overhead by a noisy gang of jackdaws. We made our way back round the sunny, outside of the main building, but still chilled to the bone by the easterly wind. “Whatzat” asked Archie pointing at a nicely hairy grey/green moss on the wall, but apart from confirming “a moss” I didn’t have a name, so in order to possibly rectify that Archie took a photo along with one of a single daisy flowering in the grass. It was only when I downloaded the pictures that I realised the

moss was quite distinctive and it might be possible to give it a name and sure enough, as I worked my way through the Mosses and Liverworts handbook, distinctive grey leaf hairs along with capsules bending back into the cushion lead me to the grey-cushioned grimmia (Grimmia pulvinata). Despite this being our commonest British Grimmia, there wasn’t a dot on the NBN Gateway map for the 1 km square for the Barracks so well spotted Archie. I have seen the moss since on stones of a couple of bridges so it is one you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding.

I have photos but not the specimen. This was the reply I had to give to a query about the wee Mycena smithiana fungus I found on oak leaves in November 2012 and as featured in the Firwood December Diary. I hadn’t really checked the status of the fungus in Scotland when I made my identification (as found

and via microscope) but out of 83 records currently on the GB fungal website, only 3 are from Scotland, 2 of which are classed a doubtful –oops! Eventually my record was accepted due to all the features being correct via the reasonable quality of the photos but there is now a date in the diary for a new search in November and if found, a specimen will be retained and sent to the experts – lesson learnt. A visit to an area on the edge of Kingussie to collate records of species for an area designated for 300 houses , yes, 300!, took me through an area of Scots pine to check for the presence of red squirrels. Whilst watching the ground for predated pine cones I noticed a pale, non-descript fungus emerging from the ground. Suspicious, I poked my finger into the pine needles and humus below the fungus and felt the substrate the fungus was growing from – a buried pine cone (above left). This is a normal looking “gill” fungus, not the other “toothed” type also regularly found on pine cones, and goes by the name of Strobilurus tenacellus. Not a species to stop houses being built and nothing else was found of national importance so the Planners will need to consider the lack of proper surveys for birds, invertebrates and mammals and the impact to the wider area, particularly the designated habitats, reserves etc. On the way home I wandered down to an area I had never been to before despite its importance for flowers and insects, particularly butterflies – the confluence of the

Rivers Feshie and Spey (left). This area is a mass of sand, rocks and gravels mainly washed down the River Feshie, some areas very stable and vegetated and others still in a state of mobility, maintained by the two rivers delivering huge quantities of water in times of spate. This alluvial fan covers quite a big area as sections have been re-worked by the rivers over millennia and in the couple of hours available only part of the area was visited. I did though have a target species – Peltigera leucophlebia – a lichen I have occasionally found in this type of riverine habitat. My regular first flower of spring was popping up from the gravels, the bright yellow petals of coltsfoot, the flowers appearing well ahead of the leaves. Old stems of bird’s-foot trefoil and scabious gave some indication of the potential species richness later in the year. This was obviously going to be a day for Peltigera lichens with the diminutive P. didactyla the first followed by (confirmed at home via a small

sample) P. polydactyla. The nicest sound of the visit was made by whooper swans flying by overhead. As I wandered back and forth across the gravels I was hoping that no-one was watching my slightly strange behaviour, but I was trying to ensure I visited most of the areas where it was obvious that an element of stability had occurred and vegetation had become established. Eventually I was wandering through areas of patchy tree regeneration when the green, “spotty” lobes of the target lichen Peltigera leaucophlebia were found (green spotty leaves above left), a single patch, about 30mm square. Time to head home. By the forest track I noticed several logs in a well rotted state so couldn’t help myself from having a quick look for the green shield-moss. No joy, but there was another

moss there with very strange stalks and capsules, all of which were doubling back on themselves burying the capsules in the leafy cushion of the moss. Having got home and checked the mosses handbook I have a note in my diary which reads “Of course it had to be the dwarf swan-neck moss” (Campylopus pyriformis)!



A notable event happened early in the month, Brian Coppins, who was on his way to the monthly meeting of the Inverness Botany Group, asked if it would be possible to stay for a couple of nights to allow time to look at the amazing aspen, hazel, elm wood near Grantown on Spey. So, on a sunny morning but with a covering of snow, we headed out, along with Bella his dog, to the woodland, the rising sun quickly melting lying snow. The first stop was for Brian to make a list of all the obvious lichen species readily visible in the same way that I would do something similar for birds, however, it would take a long time for me to produce the same lichen list, hence the reason for his visit. A hazel stem produced a

species of lichenicolous fungus in the Sphinctrina family and new species were added from the aspens, birches and willow. The ancient elms failed to produce the Gyalecta ulmi that I had hoped I hadn’t overlooked on my earlier visits but did produce Biatoridium monasteriense a rare species nationally (see map). Ninety nine species were identified by Brian on the day with other species taken away for further work. A fallen aspen also produced another location for the wee twig fungus Encoelia fascicularis with Brian also finding it below the tree on detached twigs lying on the ground. I did say to watch this space! In the evening Brian had a look at several specimens of the dark, crust lichens mentioned in last month’s diary and was pleasantly surprised to confirm that one of them was Fuscopannaria mediterranea, a new species for the Tulloch list. So, with so many “crusts” from such a small area, Tulloch was to be the destination for the half day outing the following day. On the way in to the main stand of aspens

to be checked Brian spotted a single specimen of Collema furfuraceum on one big aspen, another new species for the stand. In the area where I had found the “crusts” a few weeks earlier Brian was amazed to find F. mediterranea on many trees, the lichen displaying small patches of pale yellow/ochre in amongst blue-grey squamules, an identification feature I hadn’t known about (above left). A few aspens had huge populations of Degelia plumbea and the recesses at the base of one aspen revealled a small population of Collema occultatum, another new species. So, a brilliant couple of days, too many species for my wee brain to take in but with enough information to give me a few new species to look for. Interestingly, the area of aspens searched initially by me and re-visited with Brian is just a small part of an area of similar type woodland continuing beyond the boundary fence of the search area, so who knows what else there is yet to be found. With a part of an afternoon spare late in the month I was tempted back – just to venture over the fence. The aspens on the edge of the stand didn’t produce anything special but I remained faithful to my search method of systematically visiting all the trees as I worked my way from the edge of the field and into the wood proper and closer to the well endowed aspens on the other side of the fence. The first find was more of the aspen twig Encoelia fungus on two separate fallen branches. A leaning hazel (always more interesting than the

upright ones) didn’t disappoint and I could see as I approached that it had a big population of one of the crust lichens – Parmeliella triptophylla – one of the commoner crusts. On top of the crust was lots of Degelia plumbea and Pannaria conoplea and close by the two Nephroma’s, N. parile and N. laevigatum, all rare species locally. An adjacent hazel and the two closest aspens were also covered in D. plumbea creating perhaps the biggest population locally. What though was that popping out of the bark of the dead hazel twig? It was the spring hazel cup, Encoelia furfuracea! Intriguingly there was a large fallen aspen branch a couple of metres away and on the twigs were the fruiting bodies of its close relative Encoelia fascicularis! This is probably the first time in the UK that the two species have been found growing side by side (above left). Amazing! To round off the amazing couple of hours a green woodpecker was also calling.

The month was drawn to a close with a talk to the Highland Branch of Butterfly Conservation and various envelopes were opened as all the recording forms for various summer surveys were sorted into ‘what to do and when’. Let’s hope that the weather warms up shortly, the first butterfly transect is due in the first week of April! Well, we all live in hope!

That’s it for another month, enjoy the read.

Stewart and Janet

Web links from the diary above.
Firwood Diary February 2010
http://firwoodcottage.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/48-hours-of-absolute-mayhem.html
Ruthven Barracks
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/kingussie/ruthvenbarracks/
For NBN Gateway see  http://data.nbn.org.uk/
Firwood Diary December 2012
http://firwoodcottage.blogspot.co.uk/2012_12_01_archive.html
Mosses Field Guide (BBS) for Dwarf swan-neck moss
http://www.bbsfieldguide.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdfs/mosses/Campylopus_pyriformis.pdf

Old Tutsan flower, a new find locally

Puss moth larval case

Colt's-foot, sign of spring?

Photos © Stewart Taylor

Asteroid failed to appear unlike my aspen fungus

The 15th and 16th February provided two very different experiences. A break in the cloud and a frosty evening on the 15th tempted me up the road, complete with camera and big lense to see if I could see Asteroid 2012 DA14. An earlier phone call from Ruth and the boys informed me that they would be heading down the road towards Ruthven Barracks with the same intention because Finlay is very interested in the solar system. He reminded me in no uncertain terms that the sun was a star and not a planet! Silly Grandad! So, as we headed out to our two viewing sites we promised to phone if anything was seen. The

internet guidance was that the asteroid would pass through the stars making up the Plough, somewhere near where the handle joined the four stars forming the “pan”. The accuracy was such that an approximate time was given when this would take place, round about 9pm. So, with everything set up at 7.45pm I awaited the big event. Trial exposures of 2-3 minutes produced the usual patterns of star movements (left) even in that short time, and, because the asteroid would be travelling across the Plough in another direction to the star tracks, any bright object should be fairly obvious. 9pm came and went and still there was no obvious asteroid “track” and by 9.30pm it was becoming apparent that once again, the heavens had failed to play ball. So, with feet and hands loosing all feeling it was time to head home defeated. Ruth had more sense and realised early on that there was little chance of the boys standing around long enough to find a dull object through binoculars passing high over head, and had headed home to bed. Oh well, we might have better luck when it passes by again on 16 February 2046!

Despite frosty nights, day times mid-month were often quite sunny and the 16th dawned with lots of birds singing and the great-spotted woodpecker drumming away on its usual tree just down the road. On-going checks of aspen trees locally lead me to Tulloch where catkins appearing on hazel trees also hinted that

spring was on the horizon. A small section of aspen wood I was visiting had been surveyed in 2001 and 2002 by a group of lichen experts and I felt quite honoured to find a few new locations for some of the rarer species along with the occasional new species. A few fallen hazel branches had tell-tale signs of a strange fungus which makes itself known by causing the recently fallen branch to peel back its bark allowing the fruiting body to develop on the wood below. This fungus is readily identified by its waxy, slightly shiny appearance and is appropriately known as the waxy crust (Vuilleminia coryli). A very similar species grows in exactly the same way on oak branches. These fungi belong to a group known as “resupinates” meaning that the fruiting body of the fungus grows with its body lying flat on the substrate. It was “crusts” though of the lichen kind that started to make me feel that aspens in this section of woodland, not previously visited by experts, was a

little bit special. The nice bluish lobes of Pannaria conoplea was found quite regularly (left) along with the darker Parmeliella triptophylla with its tiny coral like growths (isidia) growing from lobe margins. I find this group of lichens quite difficult to identify correctly in the field so a few small samples were collected from the bigger populations for observing under the microscope once home. A month later one of the specimens collected was going to lead to a return visit, confirming that a new species had been added to the Tulloch aspen list. More about this next month. The trees in this area almost fall into the pasture-woodland category, the stand of aspens, birches and hazels being cut into by small areas of farm fields, no doubt converted from woodland a couple of centuries ago by our pioneering ancestors. On the edge of one field I could see the remains of a large birch tree which must have been removed after falling over, the smaller sections of the tree having been cut up for

firewood. Immediately, areas of the butt of the tree looked like green shield-moss territory, and sure enough, a group of 4 capsules grew proudly from the decaying log. Close by was a recently fallen aspen and, with all the usually high up smaller branches now at ground level, it was possibly to check for a Red Data lichen which was only re-discovered in the UK in 2001, Lecanora populicola. This lichen only grows on bark of the younger branches of aspens and is absent from the rougher bark of older sections of the trees, so anything recently fallen is always checked in passing. Even more unusual is a Red Data and UK Biodiversity Action Plan species of parasitic lichen going by the brilliant name of Candelariella superdistans, which is found growing on the Lecanora, but more about the two of these shortly. So, with so many young branches available I made my way over to the aspen. As I started to check the twigs something else caught my eye, a brown, cup-like fungus, pushing up through the bark (above left). My first thoughts were that the fungus looked very similar to the spring hazel-cup fungus (Encoelia furfuracea) I had been finding quite regularly last winter, but it definitely wasn’t that species. So, plenty of photos were taken along with a small section of twig complete with a few of the “cups” for checking later. Searching the rest of the branches failed to find the Lecanora, a pattern that is starting to develop when visiting various aspen woods. Some woods have the lichen whilst others have hardly any and this might have something to do with the aspen “clone” present in each wood. Most aspen reproduce asexually, ie via suckers from roots of existing trees, producing a stand of genetically

identical trees. The chemical make-up of the bark might be ideal in one aspen stand but not in another – who knows, but this phenomena seems to hold for some of the other scarce lichens. I digress. Loaded up with several crust lichen specimens and one fungus, I headed home to set up the microscopes. I was reasonably happy with the identification of most of the lichens though there were a couple of queries for expert Brian. The fungus was in good condition and allowed several very thin slices to be made for “squashing” to check under the microscope. Sac’s (asci) of 8 spores (left) were found with the spores slightly banana shaped. Not having any fungus identification handbooks I was now a bit stumped but thought I would try typing “fungus on populus tremula twigs” into Google and, amazingly, on the first page of options the FRDBI (Fungal Record Data of the British Isles) web-page was shown giving me a name of Encoelia fascicularis, and showing that there were only 39 records in the database, the last known one in Scotland being in the 1800s! Typing the name into Google Images showed I had the right fungus and this was confirmed a few days later by expert Liz. Brilliant but worrying that this was yet another species to go and look for! Two days later another small population of the fungus was found by the River Spey near Grantown on Spey – watch this space.

Early in the month myself, Ruth and the boys headed down to Lancashire at half-term to meet up with Janet who had been there for the first week and to spend a few days with Grandma Holden now that she was much better and out of hospital. Janet had found a suitable house to rent on the edge of Great Harwood just

a few miles from Grandma but also very handy for outings into the surrounding Ribble Valley. The picturesque village of Waddington was a perfect place for a bar lunch on the first day and a walk round the village allowed Finlay and Grandad to test out one of several sets of stepping-stones crossing the tiny stream running through the village. A nuthatch in the trees by the church was nice to hear. A late afternoon walk up the hill found a couple of galls on a roadside oak, but the main aim was to try and capture a photo of the surrounding landscape as the evening lights came on along roads, factories etc just as folk were making their way home from work. Grandma Holden was in good form for an outing to Slaidburn the next day though the wind and rain curtailed any village walk. The last day saw us visiting the Roman settlement of Bremetannacum, the modern

day village of Ribchester where a Roman fort was built to protect the location of the crossing of the River Ribble. It is thought that the fort was abandoned around the 2nd Century AD, but the remains of the main building have been excavated and the adjacent museum tells you all about the goings on all those years ago. Interestingly a friend of my fathers gave me a roman coin which supposedly was dug up by workmen involved in building houses in Ribchester around 1900.

The first week of February saw a few days where snow greeted the opening of the curtains in the morning allowing a bit of data entry catch up. A day out in the light covering of snow in the Kinchurdy area of Boat

of Garten was interesting as evidence of the presence of three of our regular mammals was found as I walked along the track towards the River Spey. Fox and pine marten tracks were scarce with just a few imprints but the badger I followed for several hundred metres along the main track left lots of obvious footprints as it shuffled from one side of the track to the other (left). A holidaying couple I met close to the estate fishing hut by the Spey went one better, having just seen an otter, down river and at close quarters.

Thankfully they were not intimidated by a strange man staring at aspen trees as they approached and were even interested enough to enquire what I was up to. The weather forecast was predicting more heavy snow on the 4th and 5th so on the Sunday I decided to make a long awaited return to a steep-sided burn close to the Highland Wildlife Zoo – sorry, Park! My first visit was way back in December 2009 when I was looking

for suitable sites for the green shield-moss when I happened to bump into several old goat willows with big populations of lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria). With a bit more knowledge of mosses and lichens I was sure there were more unusual species still to be found. Leaves of primrose and wild strawberry indicated that the site was not too acidic and would probably warrant a summer visit to see which other flowers might be present – provided the sheep and deer predation wasn’t too high. More willows were found to be supporting populations of lungwort and a couple of trees had small quantities of the rare lichen locally, Degelia plumbea (above left). Highlight of the day though had to be one of those tricky “crust” lichens, Fuscopannaria mediterranea, identified recently by Brian Coppins, growing on an ancient willow (above right). Saddest sight of the day

was the skull of a long dead capercaillie by a forestry fence, the fence just stock height, unmarked and a manmade artefact still doing damage to this huge forest grouse. Six inches of snow fell the next day! On-going surveys of local aspen stands continues and at one recently visited wood near Carrbridge I found perhaps one of the biggest aspens yet encountered. The tree was found late one afternoon as it was getting dark so I re-visited the next day to measure the tree and despite having lost half of its crown the diameter at breast height (DBH a standard way of measuring trees) was 84 centimetres. With lots of fresh branches close to the ground the tree was very suitable for looking for the Lecanoria mentioned earlier and possibly its wee parasitic friend Candelariella superdistans. Despite there being lots of young branches, only a few

looked suitable for the Lecanoria and several, thankfully, had the lichen present. Now for the difficult bit, finding a small yellow speck on the apothecia (fruiting bits) of the lichen. The only guide I had as to what I was looking for, was a photo I had taken of a group of lichens growing on a snapped branch in one of the Grantown on Spey woods. I hoped what I had photographed on that occasion was Lecanoria populicola so asked Brian for his expert opinion. Yes, most likely was his reply “but it also looks like you have photographed its parasite Candelariella superdistans, the 3 yellow apothecia on the far right”. So this is what I based my search on and as I worked from branch to branch I found what looked like the real thing, 4 yellow circular growths on one of the patches of the Lecanoria (in centre of photo right). This was confirmed recently, adding another dot to the atlas of distribution for this rare parasite.

In between times a new talk was prepared for the AGM of the Highland Branch of Butterfly Conservation in March, a red deer hind was skinned, hung and cut up for the freezer. The 27th saw a temperature difference on the day of 18 degrees centigrade, minus 9 to plus 9 between night and day leading to an over-dressed

outing on one of the warmest days of the year! Minus 12 degrees centigrade though was the lowest of the month. I also lost 20-14 to Finlay as he gets better at the backyard version of football! New lichens were also found for RSPB Insh Marshes (Sticta sylvatica) and RSPB Abernethy Forest (Leptogium saturnium). An amazing fact also arrived during the month regarding my recording database MapMate. Records passed between users via “replication” passed the 10 billion records mark since the system was created showing the huge amounts of data created and shared by MapMate users. Most of these records eventually get passed on to the National Biodiversity Network allowing the creation of the hugely informative distribution maps for many of the UK species. A red squirrel was also seen undertaking the impossible, getting into the top hole of the tall nest-box in the garden. The starlings that bred in the box last year are now probably aware of the threat and have so far not been seen near their old nest site.

Web links from the diary above.
For Bremetannacum / Ribchester see:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bremetennacum&hl=en&sa=X&rlz=1R2AURU_en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=JvBSUaDfDuaW0QXw-oCAAw&ved=0CHAQsAQ&biw=1428&bih=617
For MapMate see:
http://www.mapmate.co.uk/  
For NBN Gateway see:
http://data.nbn.org.uk/

That’s it for another month, sorry for the delay which will be covered next month but do enjoy the read.

Stewart and Janet

Archie at Grandads special pinhead lichen tree

Snowy Cairngorms

Race to America


Photos © Stewart Taylor