Medicago lupulina (Black Medick) is not a common plant around here. Records at tetrad (2 x 2 km) level from 2000 to the present day:
The Raasay record is from a known introduction in a wildflower mix at the Isle of Raasay Distillery. This is one of the few species that have survived and multiplied from that mix. The Staffin plants also look to have been introduced as there are other unexpected species in the same patch of ground.
The origin of the plants at Lonmore near Dunvegan is less clear. They are on the roadside near a garage and some houses. The plants in that gang of four tetrads in Waternish have all been found on forestry tracks by John Hawell this year. He says: “All the Medicago lupulina plants I found are associated with forestry tracks, especially at two notable busy junctions, such as the one illustrated, which also includes a quarry. I presume Medicago lupulina arrived here on forestry machinery.”
“Medicago lupulina still occurs along the forestry tracks but gets increasingly scarce the further you get away from these main junctions.”
There are older records, but nearly all are only at the 10 km square level. Pre-2000 records:
If you look closely, you should be able to see tetrads marked on Eigg and Rum. The old Raasay record was recorded in 1937 as “Rare as a weed of cultivation near Churchtown Bay.” It could have been in what is now my garden!
Most of these old sites do not appear to have survived. It seems to me that this plant, sometimes known as nonesuch (or variants thereon), is always an introduction here, despite being native elsewhere in the British Isles. It is a short-lived perennial and historically has probably been seen off by Hebridean winters. Maybe, with climate change, this will be a local winner?
Why it is called nonesuch is not clear, but it may have something to do with it being valued for its medicinal properties or forage quality.
Raasay’s temperate rainforest has been listed as a priority area by the Scottish Government as part of £3 million funding to protect biodiversity and build ecosystem resilience to climate change.
Rhododendron removal is already well underway, but there is more to be done and this may also allow other projects in the context of PAWS (Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites).
Seth has found Chilean Hard Fern (Parablechnum cordatum/Blechnum cordatum/Blechnum chilense) well naturalised near the car park at Dunvegan. New to the vice-county!
There were plant records on this hill made in 2012, which for some reason I had doubted. I can’t remember why now, though I think it had to do with records made by the same recorder elsewhere that I felt were dodgy. Anyway, yesterday I re-found Galium boreale (Northern Bedstraw) and Saxifraga hypnoides (Mossy Saxifrage) at exactly the grid references given in 2012. I didn’t go to the exact grid ref for Oxyria digyna (Mountain Sorrel), but found it in a couple of sites not far away. I failed to spot the Sparganium angustifolium (Floating Bur-reed), but the wind was up and the surface of the relevant lochan was covered in ripples, so it could well still be there. And finally, I did not visit the Eriophorum latifolium (Broad-leaved Cottongrass) site. So… I have removed my reservations on the original records from the BSBI Distributional Database.
Oxyria digynaSaxifraga hypnoides
There were other nice plants too, like Salix herbacea (Dwarf Willow), Diphasiastrum alpinum (Alpine Clubmoss) and Saxifraga stellaris (Starry Saxifrage)
Some of the Salix herbacea had tar-spot fungus Rhytisma salicinum and some had been the larval foodplant for a moth – feeding signs, leaf curl and silk. I have taken a bit with a leaf curled over in case there is a larva or pupa in there that I can rear, but I fear I am too late.
Rhytisma salicinumFeeding damageLeaf curl & silk
There was a leaf mine on Jacobaea vulgaris (Common Ragwort), which appears to be Chromatomyia horticola or C. syngenesiae, the two being indistinguishable from the mine. However, I have a pupa so I may be able to rear an adult.
On Viola palustris (Marsh Violet) there was Puccinia fergussonii, a rust I have only seen once before. Seemingly, it is less common here than Puccinia violae on Viola riviniana (Common Dog-violet).
Puccinia fergussonii
And finally, as I was heading back to the car there was a large patch of Festuca rubra (Red Fescue) infected with a choke fungus:
I noticed that a couple of tetrads in NG42 in the northern and eastern parts of Glen Brittle Forest were rather low in taxa recorded post-1999 (NG42C: 86 and NG42D: 80). After a visit a couple of days ago, those numbers now stand at a respectable 123 and 146 respectively (usual caveats about agregates, subspecies etc.).
Much of my walking was on forestry tracks and whilst I found nothing exceptional, Spergularia rubra (Sand Spurrey) was in this habitat, which is quite normal hereabouts. This is a new 10 km square record. Otherwise, there was Alnus incana (Grey Alder), planted by the Forestry and new to NG42C but known in adjacent tetrads.
There was Puccinia cnici-oleracei on Cirsium heterophylum (Melancholy Thistle), something I have had before.
Puccinia cnici-oleracei on Cirsium heterophylum
and a rust on Tussilago farfara (Colt’s-foot) that I am told could be a number of things.
Fungus on Colt’s-foot
Also on Colt’s-foot, was a fly mine that I have yet to key out successfully:
Fly mine on Colt’s-foot
Later: Barry tells me the fly is Acidia cognata (sometimes called Coltsfoot Leafminer!).
Beside the A87 north of Broadford I noticed Scrophularia auriculata (Water Figwort) in a new tetrad, a plant that is on the increase on Skye.
Scrophularia auriculata (Water Figwort)
At the same spot, I found Nabis limbatus (Marsh Damsel Bug), not rare and one I have had near home, but a good-looking beast.
Nabis limbatus
I am cheating slightly to include the next under Tracks and Roadsides, but the road does run right beside the shore at Harrrapool. There, on a bed of Bolboschoenus maritimus (Sea Club-rush), I found aphids that may well be Laingia psammae. The only localised records on NBN or iRecord are in Glamorganshire and Bob Dransfield of https://influentialpoints.com/ says “These normally feed on Marram grass. They appear not to have been recorded on Bolboschoenus maritimus before, but they are known to feed on a wide variety of grasses & sedges.”
Bolboschoenus aphids
Whilst on coastal roadside matters, I sent Mick Crawley many detailed images of the putative Sidalcea ‘Shetland Red’ and he now says “It keys out straight to S. hendersonii, and lacks the hairy upper leaf of S. malviflora. For the moment I’d say “cf. Sidalcea hendersonii or hybrid”.
A few weeks ago a friend at Oscaig, here on Raasay, asked me f I knew what a large plant was in her garden as she had not planted it.
I didn’t know. The large leaves made me think of tobacco, though that didn’t really seem right. Then another friend explained that her grandfather grew tobacco to smoke just over the fence from where this plant is growing. In fact, he had the first garden on Raasay outside the Raasay House estate and grew all sorts of plants.
However, it is now in flower and turns out to be something entirely different: Centaurea macrocephala (Giant Knapweed + a variety of other vernacular names).
Centaurea macrocephala on Raasay
As far as I can see, this does not appear to be a component of birdseed, so where it came from remains a mystery.
Not one to record on the BSBI database, however. Recording plants in gardens, unless weeds, would be the first step to insanity.
Nature Diary from Raasay, Skye & The Small Isles