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

Bontanising in Scotland Part 3: Cairngorm Area

It's just a quickie! A few highlights from the Cairngorm area.We didn't go any further than the car park on Cairngorm itself, on this occasion but a trek to the northern corries is definitely on the to do list. We saw a couple of nice plants near the car park both in fruit.

 Dwarf Cornel - Cornus suecica

Cloudberry - Rubus chamaemorus

I saw my very first Black Darters whilst we were looking for Least Water Lily (which we only found a few leaves of). Black Darters are quite common in the southwest but I've just never been at the right place at the right time. I never expected my first ones to be in Scotland.

Black Darters - Sympetrum danae

Northern Damselfly - Coenagrion hastulatum 

This rare damselfly is only found in Scotland, it was a bit distant for good photos this being the best I could manage.

Devil's-bit Scabious - Succisa pratensis

Also available in pink!

Creeping Lady's-tresses - Goodyera repens

 This beautiful little orchid is plentiful in the Abernethy Forest, most were going over but a few still looked at their best.

A typical flower spike with the flowers twisting up the stem.

An atypical spike in a form more typical of Dactylorhiza

Twinflower - Linnaea borealis

I was thrilled to find a couple of flowers still hanging on late in the season. 

 Stay tuned for Part 4: The Cairnwell and Corrie Fee, Glen Clova,

Botanising in Scotland Part 2: Tayside, Culbin & More.

The second installment from our botanising holiday in Scotland last July. This one mainly focusing around the Tayside area but also a few plants from The Culbin Forest, Burghead and Dumfrieshire.

This is the bank of the River Tay on the southern outskirts of Perth a great place to find naturalised alien plants such as this Coneflower - Rudbeckia laciniata a native of north-eastern America.

Here with Milky Bellflower - Campanula lactiflora native to Turkey and the Caucasus.

We visited Stormont Loch near Blairgowrie looking for the rare Tufted Loosetrife but we couldn't find it on this occasion, we may have been too late in the season.We saw some very nice plants in the area though especially in the arable field margins and hedgerows.

Common Fiddleneck - Amsinckia micrantha

Another plant originally from North America but long established as an arable weed in the UK. This was the first time I'd seen it. It's very photogenic! 

Red Berried Elder - Sambucus racemosa

Large-flowered Hemp-nettle - Galeopsis speciosa

I've been wanting to see this plant for ages, it only occurs in the north of the country so I don't have much chance to look for it. Fortunately it was growing profusely in an arable margin with its relative Common Hemp Nettle - Galeopsis tetrahi. It doesn't look much to look at in this photo but up close it's simply gorgeous!

 

Hoverflies like it too, this one is probably Platycheirus sp.

Umbrella Liverwort sporaphytes, looking like a little forest of palm trees.

  

Umbrella Liverwort- Marchantia polymorpha 

This is Motherwort an ancient introduction used in medicine during the Middle Ages, seen here growing on a wooded roadside verge near Logierait.

Motherwort - Leonurus cardiaca

 

With hoverfly again possibly of the genus Platycheirus.

The next few plants were in the Keltneyburn area near to Loch Tay, we were a bit on the late side to see most of them but a few were just hanging on. On the Keltneyburn reserve I saw Small White Orchid and Spignel for the first time but both were in seed and not very photogenic. Hopefully I'll be able to go back some time to see them in their prime. I also wasn't expecting to see Globeflower as they usually flower much earlier in the year. We did spot a single late flower and although I'm sure they look spectacular in large numbers, I was more than happy to see this one and it looked beautiful just by itself.

Globeflower - Trollius europaeus 

Nearby on a roadside bank was a small patch of the rare Small Cow-wheat. 

 Small Cow-wheat - Melampyrum sylvaticum

Whorled Solomon's Seal - Polygonatum verticillatum 

This grows on a wooded bank of the River Lyon, again we were too late to see flowers but there was a single fruit on one plant. 

Common Blue Sow-thistle - Cicerbita macrophylla

We spotted a large patch of this from the car and stopped to get some photos, quite a common plant apparently but one I don't remember having seen before.

Scots Lovage - Ligusticum scoticum

Another plant we were lucky to see in flower in late July. We saw this at Burghead, where we went looking for Oysterplant but failed to find any.

 

 

Serrated Wintergreen - Orthilia secunda

 

Again only in fruit in late July, but easily recognisable by the serrated leaf margins and the fruits all being down one side of the stem. Another one that I'm really looking forward to seeing in flower one day. This was in the Culbin Forest, where there was also several other species of Wintergreen and lots of Creeping Lady's-tresses but mostly going over. I got better photos of these in the Loch Garten area which will feature in another post.

 

 

Heath Cudweed - Gnaphalium sylvaticum

 

 

Giant Hogweed - Heracleum mantegazzianum 

A problematic invasive alien plant but undeniably spectacular. One I'd never seen before. You can't really get an idea of the size from this photo so here's another complete with yours truly for scale! 

 

Finally a plant we went to see in Dumfrieshire on the way home. 

 

Purple Ramping Fumitory - Fumaria purpurea