Botanising in Scotland Part 4: The Cairnwell and Corrie Fee

A few plants, some very rare, from the mountain sites of The Cairnwell and Corrie Fee, Glen Clova.

The Cairnwell

Alpine Lady's-mantle - Alchemilla alpina

Purple Saxifrage - Saxifraga oppositifolia

Only a single flower but great to see as Purple Saxifrage usually flowers in the early spring. 

Chickweed Wintergreen - Trientalis europaea 

 This is the very rare Mountain Sandwort which only grows in a few locations in the Scottish mountains The Cairnwell being one of them. Unfortunately the overcast weather conditions meant that the flowers were partially closed.

Mountain Sandwort - Minuartia rubella

Melancholy Thistle - Cirsium heterophyllum

Growing luxuriantly along a fenced off area of verge on the A93 at Glenshee.

Corrie Fee

Corrie Fee is a NNR at the head of Glen Clova on the Eastern edge of the Cairngorms National Park. It is well known for its botanical riches including several nationally very rare plants and we managed to see a couple of these.

Harebell - Campanula rotundifolia

 Not rare but always nice to photograph!

Grass of Parnassus - Parnassia palustris.

Simply stunning and one of my all time favorite wildflowers. 

We had to climb high up onto the sides of the corrie in order to find the best plants.

Mountain Sorrel -  Oxyria digyna

Oblong Woodsia - Woodsia ilvensis

 This is Yellow Oxytropis a very rare and very beautiful plant only found in three locations in Scotland. A nice Eyebright competing for the limelight too. Again we were thrilled to find this actually in flower as it normally flowers much earlier than the end of July. There were about three in flower in total the others being high up on cliffs.

 

Yellow Oxytropis - Oxytropis campestris 

Just after we'd found and photographed the Oxytropis a shower passed through and treated us to a  lovely rainbow..

 

The rain also seemed to bring out lots of frogs into the grassland, they were the most brightly coloured Common Frogs that we'd ever seen yellowish with bold black markings. And on the walk back to the car park we noticed this unusual looking Dock, which turns out to be ...

Northern Dock - Rumex longifolius