Some Plant Updates

The Acaena inermis at Waternish has now done what I wanted:

Acaena inermis at Waterish

This Burdock at Eabost is Arctium minus subsp. pubens (Lesser Burdock) – thanks, Mike.

Arctium minus subsp. pubens (Lesser Burdock)

This seems to be our common taxon, though more work is needed.

I forgot to include Lycopodium clavatum (Stag’s-horn Clubmoss) in the list of plants found by the Allt Coire nan Clach:

Lycopodium clavatum

It occurred to me that this was in a situation similar to that of quite a few L. clavatum records on Skye i.e. on a mossy/heathery bank set back from a burn and present in small numbers, such that I quite possibly miss it when walking along burns with my attention  focused on the burn and its immediate vicinity.

Waternish

Geary Ravine is one of our riches botanical sites on Skye but yesterday I reached the top end of it and turned my back so as to record what looked like a seriously dull tetrad. At different times Carl (2006) and I (2012) had made a few records whilst passing through. We had amassed a total of 47 taxa.  The best bet to improve that score seemed to be to walk up the Abhainn a’ Ghlinne and indeed after half an hour I had added a further forty. Four hours later the taxa count was up to 111.

I also made a foray into NG26K to the south and at the top of Ben Geary I found Salix herbacea (Dwarf Willow), new to NG26 and infected with Rhytisma salicinum (Willow Tarspot).

Rhytisma salicinum on Ben Geary

Additionally, some leaves had clearly been browsed by something small:

Salix herbacea grazed

There were masses of Twin-Spot Carpet moths but most pleasing was a Common Lizard making use of the only piece of litter I saw to warm up:

Common Lizard

It had clearly regrown its tail at some point.

I did quite well for invertebrate and fungus records, but nothing of great rarity.

Loch na Feithe Seilich, Loch Glac Mairi Nic Colla & Allt Choire nan Clach

Tetrad NG72A was visited by a party from the 2005 BSBI Field Meeting on Skye. They visited the eastern side – Allt nan Con and Loch an Ime. This was clearly not a rich area as they recorded only 75 taxa. Memory suggests it was a pretty wet day, too. (I was leading another party at the time.) These were the only records for this tetrad.

Yesterday I went to see if I could improve matters. I intended to visit the western side but starting over at the eastern edge as that is the nearest road.  However, the Allt Mòr was in full spate and despite being in wellies, the depth and flow persuaded me not to cross it. So I collected a Hieracium specimen and drove round to the Sleat road so as to approach from other side. This, it turned out, meant navigating an enormous sea of Molinia.

Once I reached Loch na Feithe Seilich and Loch Glac Mairi Nic Colla I added a few aquatics including Utricularia stygia (Nordic Bladderwort) (confirmed once home by examining the quadrifid hairs on the bladders).

Utricularia stygia (Nordic Bladderwort)

However, the Allt Choire nan Clach turned out to be one of those pleasing Skye burns with rocky gullies and a diverse flora such as Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Bearberry), Juniperus communis subsp. nana (Dwarf Juniper), Populus tremula (Aspen), Rubus saxatilis (Stone Bramble) and so on, such that the taxon count now stands at a much more respectable 144.

There was a fine group of polypore fungi on a dead tree (probably Birch Polypore)

Polypore

and a fine Black Slug (Arion ater) enjoying a piece that had dropped off:

Arion ater

I also spotted several different hairy caterpillars including these two, which I do not see frequently (thanks to Nigel for idents):

Light Knot Grass

Ruby Tiger

I really love your tiger feet.

Colbost Point

Following on from my visit to Ullinish a week or so ago, I recently visited the next tetrad to the west which includes Colbost Point. Here there is “coral” beach like the more famous one north of Dunvegan, albeit on a smaller scale, but one that is rarely visited.

Near Colbost Point

and here there was Sedum acre (Biting Stonecrop) as reported in 1969.

Sedum acre (Biting Stonecrop)

Sadly, I didn’t find Sagina nodosa (Knotted Pearlwort), also reported in 1969 from “above the coral beach”. It should have been possible to find, though flowering is over, as Joanna demonstrated last week by showing me a piece she had found at Kinloch. Both these species are pretty infrequent on Skye.

Other nice species in a Skye context included a single very immature specimen of Cakile maritima (Sea Rocket) that is unlikely to set fruit and therefore will be gone by next year, Centunculus minimus (Chaffweed), Lythrum salicaria (Purple-loosestrife) and Mentha arvensis (Corn Mint).

Several plants of Plantago lanceolata (Ribwort Plantain) had galls caused by the nematode Ditylenchus dipsaci:

Plantago lanceolata nematode gall

I think this is my first nematode record!

Cnoc Roll area

Just south of Duntulm is Cnoc Roll and to the south of that an old birch woodland. This is in tetrad NG47B and yesterday Skye Botany Group visited the area to improve a rather poorly recorded tetrad. It was a bit wet and windy but could have been far worse and we recorded 177 vascular plants of which 84 were new to the tetrad and six new to hectad NG47 (with a few qualifications around subspecies and aggregates).

Perhaps the most surprising of the additions (surprising that it was an addition, not that it was there) was Salix cinerea subsp. oleifolia (Rusty Willow) which is common across Skye at low altitudes.

We found Rose Pea Gall on Rosa sherardii (Sherard’s Downy-rose). There are two smooth RPGs (like this one) caused by gall wasps which “cannot be safely distinguished without rearing the adult”. There were no larvae or pupae so it goes down as Diplolepis eglanteriae agg. There are not many records for either species or the aggregate in Scotland.

Rose Pea Gall on Rosa sherrdii

Botanists and horticulturalists are used to the concept of National Collections e.g. of Willows or Oaks. We think we may have spotted the National Bath Collection (thanks Wheldon!) yesterday:

On the way I had stopped at Lochan nan Dùnan to see Seth’s Lythrum portula (Water-purslane). As he had said, there is a great deal of it around and in the lochan.

Lythrum portula (Water-purslane)

Rowan…. Bugloss….Idrigill

I started Thursday with a visit to Borve to see Neil’s oddly behaving Rowan. One branch has a leaf that has not divided like normal rowan leaves whilst the others have very fine leaflets:

Odd Sorbus aucuparia

The rest of the tree looks entirely normal. The only explanation anybody has come up with is a plant virus, but even Tim Rich, author of Whitebeams, Rowans and Service Trees of Britain and Ireland, says he has never seen anything like it.

On to Uig where Seth had found a verge full of garden escapes/throw-outs including Armoracia rusticana (Horse-radish), Echium plantagineum (Purple Viper’s-bugloss) and Iberis umbellata (Garden Candytuft) all new to the vice-county. Thanks to David for identification of the Echium.

Echium plantagineum

Iberis umbellata showing horned fruits

There was also a second, white, Iberis (so determined from the zygomorphic flowers i.e. two large and two small petals) but this does not have the distinctive fruits of Iberis umbellata, leaving us all a little puzzled.

Iberis sp.

Seth, Neil, Wheldon and I then had a prowl at Ru Idrigill/Creagile in NG36R and recorded 148 plant taxa of which 52 were new to the tetrad. There was a variety of other things we spotted, but to pick out a couple of galls:

Brachycolus cerastii (aphid) galls on Cerastium fontanum

and a stunning gall on hawthorn fruits:

Gymnosporangium clavariiforme on Crataegus monogyna.      Image: N Roberts

Thanks to Seth for determinations – and to Neil and Wheldon (as well as Seth) for finding a fine collection of things.

Ullinish

A few days ago I discovered that a batch of records from the 1987 NCC Freshwater Loch Survey had an incorrect grid reference, putting them in tetrad NG33J rather than NG33Z. NG33J had looked moderately well recorded in terms of numbers of species and had not got onto my To Do list. However, once these incorrect records were reassigned it looked pretty poor, so yesterday I went to do something about it and recorded 213 taxa – with a couple of Atriplex specimens still to check.

Dun Beag lies within the tetrad and is the best preserved of the 50 or so brochs on Skye but I had never made the short walk from the road to inspect it.

Dun Beag

Dun Beag

Dun Beag

It wasn’t much fun botanically, however. But the rest of the tetrad was: Cakile maritima (Sea Rocket), Carex otrubae (False Fox-sedge), Equisetum x litorale (Shore Horsetail) and Juncus ranarius (Frog Rush) were all new to the 10km square NG33, as were the planted Prunus avium (Wild Cherry), Saxifraga x urbium (London Pride) and Sorbus intermedia (Swedish Whitebeam).

Cakile maritima

The Cakile is rare on Skye.

Asplenium ruta-muraria (Wall-rue), Bolboschoenus maritimus (Sea Club-rush) and Lycopus europaeus (Gypsywort) were the first NG33 records since before 2000, in the case of the Bolboschoenus, the first since 1915.

Additionally there were new sites for the locally uncommon Glechoma hederacea (Ground-ivy) and Sparganium erectum (Branched Bur-reed), though the latter has arguably lost that status owing to recent discoveries:

Records to 1999

All Records

On the moth front there was a fine Knot Grass caterpillar on Salix repens (Creeping Willow) and I got a distant shot of a Shaded Broad-bar (Thanks, Nigel for i.d.), something I do not recall seeing before.

Knot Grass larva

Shaded Broad-bar

Shieldbug and Diving Beetle

Two recent visitors to our garden: a Spiked Shieldbug (Picromerus bidens)

Picromerus bidens

not all that common in the northwest, and a Diving Beetle (Dytiscus semisulcatus)

Dytiscus semisulcatus

that appeared to mistake our black car for a dark peaty pool. It took off and flew around for a while but came back for another try.  This is a species I have recorded before on Raasay, but not at home.

Plant Updates 2

Back in June, Joyce and I found Inula Hookeri (Hooker’s Fleabane) at Knott and now, in addition to the clump by Storr Lochs, Seth has found a third colony at Uig.

Inula Hookeri

There were no previous records for VC104.

Martin has been finding Cryptogramma crispa (Parsley Fern) around Glamaig and Carmen, Fred and friends visited a number of botanical hotspots on Skye. From my point of view their best new find was Drosera anglica (Great Sundew) in NG26 where it had never been recorded before – though I suspect they were more impressed by Koenigia islandica (Iceland-purslane), Arabis alpina (Alpine Rock-cress) and Saxifraga cespitosa (Tufted Saxifrage).

There was a report on iRecord of Gunnera tinctoria (Giant-rhubarb) on the Aros Nature Trail with a grid reference, but I failed to find it yesterday. However, there is a patch of 13 plants by the road near Aros. Gunnera is new to NG44. (Sale of Gunnera tinctoria in Europe is now banned. See here.)

Gunnera near Aros, Portree

Records for the year to date now exceed 10,000. I have stopped producing plant notes for the Raasay Community Newsletter but may start again in the autumn. My half-year report (Jan-Jun 2018) is available here, as it has been for some time but I forgot to mention it….

 

Plant Updates

John has found Acaena inermis (Spineless Acaena) on the Quiraing path – a totally new area:

Acaena inermis Quiraing 2

Acaena inermis Quiraing 2

Seth, Tony and I went to the Storr yesterday to check out some of the rarities but on the way back Tony spotted a large yellow fleabane by the roadside which turns out to be Inula hookeri (Hooker’s Fleabane), described by Skye Shrubs who identified it for me as a thug.

They also identified this which Tony and Seth brought from Uig:

Pratia pedunculata (Matted Pratia)

Whilst it has gone rampant through a lawn, it is not (yet) known to have reached the wild in Uig. RHS call this one a thug