Ord

After the Broadford Tree Quest we went to Ord in Sleat. We started around the jetty, village and farm, a patch I had never been to before and this allowed us to find some plants that had not been recorded for at least 12 years such as Glechoma hederacea (Ground-ivy) and Parnassia palustris (Grass-of-Parnassus). We inspected a good colony of Hymenophyllum tunbrigense (Tunbridge Filmy-fern) and found this on Juncus acutiflorus (Sharp-flowered Rush):

Tabanid (horsefly) eggs?    Photo: S Terry

which the consensus seems to be is a group of Tabanid (horsefly) eggs.

We had a go at what we hope is “Tokavaig Gorge”, the only likely area to be given this name in the 1 km square grid reference given in previous records, and re-found a few more plants, but there is more to do there.  After that we carried on down the Allt an Leth-bheinn to the mire that a group of us visited at the end of May. This time we found the Sparganium erectum (Branched Bur-reed) that escaped us previously.

Sparganium erectum     Photo S Terry

We had been within 20m of it last time. There were the larval cases of the Rush Moth (Coleophora alticolella) on Juncus squarrosus (Heath Rush):

Rush Moth Larval Cases

Alder Tongue Gall Again

There is a lot to report from the last couple of days, so it will take a day or two to appear. As a starter Steve Terry took me to see some planted trees near Broadford yesterday including Alnus incana (Grey Alder) which proved to have alder tongue gall (Taphrina alni)  on some of its cones:

Alder Tongue Gall on Grey Alder

Other trees present included Salix alba (White Willow) and Prunus avium (Wild Cherry).  A little way away into Broadford we inspected a poplar (really, this time) that will need expert help to determine:

Populus sp.