BSBI Committee for Scotland

• Scottish Annual Meeting 2009
• Exhibits at Scottish Annual Meeting 2009
• Exhibit Abstracts 2009
• BSBI Committee for Scotland - members

The BSBI and BSS Scottish Annual Meeting 2009
Saturday 7th November 2009
Queen's Hotel, Perth

Download: Booking form and full programme

Programme

09:00 Arrival, Registration, and Setting up Exhibits
10:15 Welcome: Chris Miles, Chair, BSBI Scottish Committee
10:25 BSBI Report: Michael Braithwaite, President, BSBI
10.35 BSS Report: Chris Jeffree, President, BSS
10:45 Plantlife Report: Deborah Long

11:00 Break

11:30 Scottish Officer Annual Report: Jim McIntosh
12:00 BSBI Scottish Regional AGM (All Welcome)

12:30 Lunch (A buffet meal for those who have booked).

14:00 Heather McHaffie: Current projects at the RBGE
14:10 Alistair Godfrey: Calamagrostis purpurea in Mid-Perthshire
14:20 Kevin Walker: Threatened Plants Project
14:40 Questions and Issues: What does the panel think?

15:00 Break (BSBI Scottish Committee Members Meeting)

16:15 Richard Ennos: Evolutionary interactions between plant taxa and their implications for conservation?

17:15 Close and thanks, Chris Miles

18:30 Dinner

Information for those attending the Scottish Annual Meeting

Surveying the flora of Corrour Estate, a ‘hidden jewel’ in Westerness
Ian Strachan (vc 97)

Corrour is a large Highland estate in the south-eastern corner of Westerness. Centered around Loch Ossian, the estate is predominantly mountainous, with 7 Munros, and plenty of bog! Unlike its neighbours - Creag Meagaidh, Ben Alder, Rannoch Moor and Ben Nevis - the area had attracted rather little attention from botanists...until 2009. At the invitation of the owners, who are keen to manage the estate for biodiversity, a group of ten BSBI members spent a week in June mapping the flora. We gathered nearly 7000 monad (1 km square) records and over 600 detailed grid references. The exhibit outlined the approach taken and illustrated some of the many interesting and unusual species found.

Cotula alpina (Hook.f.) Hook.f. (Alpine Cotula) in North-west Yorkshire (v.c.65), new to Britain and Europe
Linda Robinson

During a field meeting in June 2009 to Kirby Malzeard Moor, an isolated grouse moor on the border of vc64 and vc65, a number of small inconspicuous prostrate Cotula plants were found scattered on well-grazed peaty gritty turf at an altitude of almost 430m. I assumed they would be Cotula squalida (Button Weed) which had previously been recorded in the area. However on subsequent checking they were thought to be Cotula alpina (Alpine Cotula) – a native to New South Wales, Australia. A specimen was collected and this tentative determination was confirmed by Eric Clement.

We have now discovered that several populations previously recorded as Cotula squalida in the area were actually Cotula alpina. The two species are very similar except that Cotula alpina is totally glabrous. After this additional fieldwork, Cotula alpina is now known to occur in a total of 21 tetrads in 4 English hectads in vc64 and vc65. Subsequently I learned that Anna White, Dumfries, had found Cotula alpina along a roadside verge near Polbain in Wester Ross, vc105. (Also confirmed by Eric Clement). It is seems likely that at least some records of the sparsely hairy Cotula squalida should be re-determined as the totally glabrous, but otherwise very similar Cotula alpina.

Some new and remarkable Cumbrian records
Geoffrey Halliday

Nine specimens were exhibited, all but one being either absent or extremely rare in Scotland. They included two garden-escapes - Parthenoscissus inserta (False Virginia-creeper) and Pseudofumaria alba (Pale Cordyalis), a problematic churchyard record of Luzula forsteri (Southern Wood-rush), Isatis tinctoria (Woad) and two amazing vc69 finds of Leonurus cardiaca (Motherwort), not recorded since the 1870s, and Peucedanum palustre (Milk-parsley), a species here far removed from its East Anglian headquarters but rediscovered at its original 1871 site.

Nuclear inspection reveals unexpected orchid populations
Chris Miles

In the Summer 2008 I received a copy of a biodiversity audit for the Chaplecross nuclear power station site north of Annan, Dumfries-shire, vc72. The site, an old magnox power station had recently stopped production and is the subject of a long decommissioning process that may last 25 years. The report contained some unexpected records including Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid) new to Dumfriesshire and Platanthera bifolia (Lesser Butterfly-orchid). After applying for access permission and permission to use a camera I was allowed an accompanied visit in 2009 to see these populations. As they are protected by armed police they appear safe from external interference! The big question is how long have they been there?

Athletes' Village for Commonwealth Games – Site of Unusual Plant Collection
Peter Macpherson

The exhibit featured an unusual collection of plants that grows at the edge of a wood which is to become the Athletes’ Village for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Glasgow in 2014.

Roxburghshire (vc80) and Selkirkshire (vc79) Plants 2009
Rod Corner

Notable Finds:
Calamagrostis x gracilescens. (C. canescens x stricta). Narrow Small-reed x Purple Small-reed. Jeff Waddell. A new site for nationally rare hybrid in vc79.
Carex x elytroides (C. acuta x nigra) Slender-tufted Sedge x Common Sedge. New to vc79.
Ceratophyllum demersum. Rigid Hornwort. An NCR from vc79 based on a washed up fragment.
Juncus x surrejanus Druce ex Stace & Lambinon. (Juncus acutiflorus x articulatus) Sharp-flowered Rush x Jointed Rush from vc79 where it is probably widespread and under recorded.
An introduced plant from vc79 from the side of a remote forest track. Requests for id please.
Carex x decolorans (C. nigra x bigelowii). Stiff Sedge x Common Sedge, The Cheviot in vc80.
Carex spicata. Spiked Sedge. An NCR from vc80 and possibly related to forestry.
Chrysosplenium alternifolium. Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage. Exceptionally large leaved plants approximately twice the accepted upper limit of normal from vc80.
Pyrola rotundifolium. Round-leaved Wintergreen. Luke Gaskell; from a new Borders habitat. vc80.
Sisymbrium orientale. Eastern Rocket. Luke Gaskell. The first record for vc80 for 90 years.

Berwickshire RPR Generation Two: Hectad Reports
Michael Braithwaite

Since 2007 we have been repeat-recording vc81 Berwickshire working hectad by hectad. One of the objectives is to update the RPR and to chronicle how the populations of rare and scarce (R&S) plants have fared. Working hectad by hectad gives an obvious opportunity to re-format the data in the RPR site-by-site within hectad, rather than species-by-species within vice-county. I plan to issue this ‘Second Generation’ RPR over the years in parts, hectad by hectad, as each is ‘finished’.

Changes at the Coast: Berwickshire Rare or Scarce Species
A series of surprising changes in locally rare or scarce species were observed along a short section of the Berwickshire coast NT77 in 2009, with more new colonisation than losses. Any guesses as to whether this is just a random event or a sign of the arrival of climate change?

Colour-coded Hawthorns
I live in an area where Crataegus laevigata (Midland Hawthorn) is an unfamiliar introduction and I only found out something of its frequency here after learning that it flowered about a week earlier than C. monogyna. That gave me a gambit only for a short period in the spring, so I have been pleased to find a gambit based on the colour of the haws that works for a period in early autumn.

Variation and Hybridisation in Cirsium arvense Creeping Thistle: The Lammermuirs
One of the ways to find the hybrid thistle Cirsium x celakovskianum (C. arvense x palustre) is to look for creeping patches of thistle that have spiny stems. But, beware, C. arvense is variable, not all such colonies are the hybrid!

Finds in West Perthshire vc87 in 2009
Liz Lavery, Paul Stanley and Roy Sexton

On display was a selection of some of the most interesting finds in West Perthshire during the 2009 season. The display was in two parts. The first part was a beautiful collection of over 105 photographs compiled by Roy Sexton. Most photographs were taken by him or Sarah Longrigg and a few rare casuals by Liz Lavery.

The second part comprise of mounted specimens of notable finds in Clackmannanshire prepared by Paul Stanley. Pride of place went to three finds; Corallorrhiza trifida (Coralroot) at Leny flushes by Pam Murdoch, the first record for many years; Calamagrostis purpurea (Scandinavian Small-reed) at Inverlochlarig by Liz Lavery and the Perthshire Society of Natural Science, a first record for VC87 for this red data book species; and Hammarbya paludosa (Bog Orchid) on the east side of Beinn Tulaichean, Inverlochlarig by Sarah Longrigg. Additional new natives for VC87 included Stellaria pallida (Lesser Chickweed) at Culross and Scrophularia umbrosa (Green Figwort) at Blair Castle.

Also on display were new or updated records for Bunias orientalis (Warty-cabbage), Vicia tetrasperma (Smooth Tare), Trifolium micranthum (Slender Trefoil), Solanum nigrum (Black Nightshade), Carum carvi (Caraway), Alopecurus myosuroides (Black-grass) and Apera spica-venti (Loose Silky-bent). Very rare finds were Agrostemma githago (Corncockle) found as a seed contaminant, Silene noctiflora (Night-flowering Catchfly) - first record since 1860, Cardamine pentaphyllos, Rorippa islandica (Northern Yellow-cress), Chelidonium majus (Greater Celandine) and Carex magellanica (Tall Bog-sedge) at two sites.

Calamagrostis purpurea in Mid-Perthshire, vc88
Alistair Godfrey

C. purpurea (Scandanavian Small-reed) is recorded from only one location in Mid-Perthshire, where it has been known for 30 years. Three visits were made in 2009 to determine the exact extent and distribution of the population, during which observations were made on flowering success, associated species and threats; which were shading from trees, competition with associates and browsing.

Caenlochan - Current Status of Selected Vascular Plants
Theo Loizou

A series of photographic images was presented to demonstrate the current status of selected vascular plants from the botanically rich area of Caenlochan in Angus, vc90.

Working on the ‘Threatened Plants Project’ as a Sabbatical
Eric Meek

RSPB staff are awarded a sabbatical of one month every seven years provided that the time is spent on a conservation-related project. For my fourth sabbatical with the Society I opted to work on the BSBI’s ‘Threatened Plants Project’. With the enthusiastic support of Jim McIntosh, BSBI Scottish Officer, my partner Aileen Hall and I covered sites in Angus, vc90, and South Aberdeenshire, vc92, as part of a two-week work programme devised by JM. We searched for – and found - Gentianella campestris (Autumn Gentian), Dianthus deltoides (Maiden Pink), Astragalus danicus (Purple Milk-vetch), Coeloglossum viride (Frog Orchid), Pyrola media (Intermediate Wintergreen), Scleranthus annuus (Annual Knawel), Gnaphalium sylvaticum (Heath Cudweed) and Crepis mollis (Northern Hawk's-beard) in sites as diverse as Arbroath’s Elliott Links, the Royal Aberdeen Golf Course, Glen Esk, an industrial site at Port Elphinstone, Corrie Fee, a busy roadside at Ley Lodge, the Morrone Birkwoods of Braemar and, most distant of all, Caenlochan. We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to carry out the second two weeks of survey next summer. We would encourage anyone with the opportunity to do the same!

Plants and Places from Deeside to Saudi Arabia
Kathy Fallowfield

Kathy Fallowfied, a former Recorder for vc92 provided a number of her own presentations and one by herself and Neil Cook, a former Countryside Ranger for the Balmoral Estate.

Visual displays:
1) White Sports”….an abnormality in some familiar flowers
2) Seen around Braemar and the Cairngorms National Park
3) More Illustrated News from Upper Deeside

Bench displays:
1) A Harsh Environment – Plants from the deserts of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province
2) Prunus padus (Bird Cherry) and the Small Ermine Moth by Neil Cook and Kathy Fallowfield

Which Pampas Grass?
Alison Rutherford

It is generally assumed if you see naturalized pampas grasses that they will be Cordateria richardii (Early Pampas-grass) or C.selloana (Pampas-grass). Doubts have been expressed that the former, from New Zealand, may not always be this. The exhibit set out to clarify confusion between C. richardii (Endl.) Zotov., C. richardii ambig. and C. fulvida (Buchanan) Zotov. In the 1974 issue of Taxon, there is a list of four New Zealand species, apart from one, they seem very alike.

BSBI field meeting, Isle of Tiree, Mid Ebudes, vc103, July 2009
Lynne Farrell

This is a display showing some of the more significant records made and specimens found on the trip, plus a short report of each day, together with images (on laptop) of the habitats and species found in the various habitats. The aims of the field meeting were to experience and enjoy the habitats and scenery of the island, to record species included in the Threatened Plants Project, and to consider whether recording at a tetrad level was worthwhile (in view of the fact that there was a good, recent Flora). We recorded in 20 of the possible 42 tetrads, and many interesting records were added to the existing ones in the Flora. Comments received from the participants indicated they were keen to complete the remaining tetrads, and to hold a similar meeting on Coll in the future.

Trifolium fragiferum (Strawberry Clover) in Western Scotland
David Pearman

Trifolium fragiferum is a really rare species in Scotland, with less than five sites up the east coast to Musselburgh, and only three sites on the west coast – in Dumfries (Caerlaverock NNR), Coll and South Uist. The last two were long doubted, but that from Coll, from 1939, was refound in 1997, and the S. Uist record, from 1947, was refound in 1983. Further work in Coll has resulted in extra discoveries in the broad area of the first site, and Richard Pankhurst has added a second S. Uist site, about 1km from the first.

Why is it so rare in western Scotland? There is plenty of suitable habitat particularly in the machair islands. I wonder if it really is so rare, and whether it is overlooked, because on my 2009 visit, it was only just in flower in early September, with no sign of the characteristic ‘strawberry’ fruits. With hindsight, the congested, pinkish flowers, and the sprawling growth, were diagnostic, but I only found it because I was looking for it.

Some interesting discoveries in West Ross, vc105
Duncan Donald

A small display from Duncan Donald, newly appointed Recorder, highlighted few of the notable (re-) discoveries in West Ross (vc105) this year, including what is apparently the first Scottish record for Cotula alpina from Australia; the first record of Adoxa moschatellina since 1894; the re-discovery of Cephalanthera longifolia (Narrow-leaved Helleborine) at a site at which it had not been seen for 120 years; and a number of other first records for the vice-county.

Lost and Found in vc106 (Easter Ross)
Barbara and Brian Ballinger

This year no Oxytropis halleri (Purple Milk-vetch) could be found on the cliffs at Eathie on the Black Isle following a slow decline over the last 40 years. We were also alarmed to find that the Ajuga x pseudopyramidalis site, which we had reported recently, had been cleared for cable laying. However, later in the year 4 rosettes suggestive of A. x pseudopyramidalis re-appeared. Two new sites for Centaurium erythraea (Common Centuary) have been found to the north-west of vc106 and this appears to be a new northern limit for the mainland (although not the islands). Three new sites and refinds for Gentianella amarella ssp. septentrionalis are also described. The third in our series of "not as scarce as we thought?" topics was devoted to Corallorrhiza trifida (Coralroot).

West Sutherland, vc108, 2009
Pat and Ian Evans

Our fieldwork during 2009 concentrated on under-worked tetrads in Eddrachillis and Durness parishes, guided by a detailed vegetation survey carried out by R.E.C. Ferreira in the 1970s. We also did our stint of recording for the Threatened Plants Project.

In May we re-located, with the help of Gordon Rothero, Ferreira’s site for Arabis petraea (Northern Rock-cress) at the mouth of the Duartmore Burn (NC1736). A fine stand of Tofieldia pusilla (Scottish Asphodel) at Sangomore (NC4066) was the prize for a day’s ‘square-bashing’ around Durness in June. Previous records were from the 1950s.

In July an unsuccessful search for a TPDB species accidentally threw up a second locality for vc.108 for Bolboschoenus maritimus (Sea Club-rush), at Badcall Bay (NC1641). In early October a bit of ‘slumming’ behind Main Street, Lochinver (NC0922) turned up a fine specimen of Cotoneaster x watereri (det. by Jeanette Fryer), apparently unrecorded north of the Central Belt.

Fieldwork later in October involved some road walking in the Laxford Bridge area (NC14/24), with interesting records for three tiny annuals, Radiola linoides (Allseed), Anagallis minima (Chaffweed) and Sagina maritima (Sea Pearlwort).

Caithness Plants, vc109
Ken Butler

A specimen was shown of the Frog Rush Juncus ambiguus, which is a first VC record for Caithness. It is part of the Juncus bufonius (Toad Rush) group of species, notable for its tolerance of seawater and in this case growing on a slipway at Brough harbour. It is frequent around the coasts of UK, so surprising that we have not found it before.

The Stellaria palustris (Marsh Stitchwort) was a surprising find on the margins of Loch Calder. It is some 200km north of any other sites. There was a well established colony in a marshy area. It is a first VC record for Caithness.

The Chenopodium rubrum (Red Goosefoot) is also a first VC record for a plant which has only one previous record in the Highlands.

The hybrid grass Alopecurus geniculatus x pratensis (= x brachystylus) was first recorded from the banks of the river Thurso in 1861 as Alopecurus aequalis. I refound the grass at the same site in 1974 and CE Hubbard confirmed that it was Alopecurus geniculatus x pratensis. A search this summer confirmed that it was still there and I went on to look at its extent. It covers an area of 10m x 150m. However this is not a single clone of rhizomes because there is variation in the hybrids which suggests either multiple creation of hybrids or a degree of backcrossing. Neither parent is in the immediate locality now. Several pressed plants were shown illustrating the range of forms found.

Ferns, Courses and Fumatories
Heather McHaffie

1. The British Pteridological Society is for people who are interested in recording and/or growing ferns. There are local groups throughout the UK and the Scottish group has an active programme of field visits throughout the summer combined with one monitoring visit to a Woodsia alpina site.

2. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has a wide range of courses on botanical topics and other related areas. A comparatively new course is the Certificate in Practical Field Botany which is offered in 2010 as an 8-day course in Edinburgh or East Kilbride (Kittochside) or a residential week on Eigg. The course covers basic plant identification using the Francis Rose Wild Flower Key, how to record, press (and even mount) specimens, and an introductions to botanical survey methods including the National Vegetation Classification. An ILA grant is available for those who are eligible. Further information:
http://www.rbge.org.uk/education/horticulture-botany-and-environment/botany
Also available are the 2010 courses for the Field Studies Councils’ centre at Kindrogan: http://www.field-studies-council.org/kindrogan/

3. When Fumaria reuteri (Martin’s Ramping Fumitory) was found in Campbeltown in 2006 by Ian Teesdale it was assumed that it was a unique occurrence in Scotland as it was so far from the main distribution in Cornwall and the Isle of Wight. In 2009 two new sites have been confirmed. The first was along a disturbed roadside on the edge of Kirriemuir and the second in the corner of a field near St Cyrus. This suggests that this species might be more widespread but has not been recognised. The plant has a distinctive ‘jizz’ with a long inflorescence and comparatively large flowers. This species has probably been confused with F. muralis (Common Ramping-fumitory) which has fewer flowers in the inflorescence. The immediately obvious distinguishing feature for F. reuteri is a gap between the sepal and the spur due to a long nectar tube. Microscopic confirmation centres around a point on the broad stigma, proportionately longer than the small one on F. muralis. A workshop on seven Scottish species of Fumitory will be held on 9th June 2010 at the RBGE for more information or to book phone 0131 248 2876.

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Committee
(2009- 2010)

Chairman: Chris Miles
Vice-chairman: Brian Ballinger
Secretary: Dot Dahl
Treasurer: Jane Jones
Meetings secretary: Mark Watson
Exhibition secretary: Martin Robinson
Committee member: Luke Gaskell
Committee member: Barbara Ballinger
Committee member: Alistair Godfrey
Committee member: Liz Lavery

Representing BSS: Kim Harding
Representing Plantlife: Deborah Long
Representing National Trust for Scotland: Lindsay Mackinlay
Representing Forestry Enterprise Scotland: Jeff Waddell
Representing SNH: Robin Payne

Attending: Jim McIntosh, BSBI Scottish Officer

BSBI Scottish Committee Meetings

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Last updated : 1st March 2010