Anyone for jelly?

 I ventured further afield this week, outside the usual 5 mile advice,  as my husband had to go to the dentist in Aviemore, which gave me an opportunity to go for a walk and lichen hunt.  It was a lovely sunny day, though icy underfoot, and while walking by Milton Burn the sun shone through these strange translucent jellies on a dead sycamore.

Amber jelly fungus

With some help from more knowledgeable friends (thank you,  Audrey), it got a name: Amber Jelly Fungus (Exidia recisa). During dry spells, it shrivels up and is hard to see

 but during wet weather it swells up, and becomes these lovely see-through jewels which dangle from the branches of dead trees. There was a lot of it.

Apparently, it is edible, though I don't think I'd be that keen, and I would have to add the disclaimer that I don't advise anyone to try eating it on my recommendation! But it was a lovely find when there wasn't much else to look at.

An exciting find

 I will tell you a tale of why it is so rewarding to record wildflowers and how it can give a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. (I will save the story of how I got around to recording for another post...)

In 2017, I had started looking closely at plants in Newtonmore and trying to identify them. One day I found a plant I had never seen before, flowering in a drainage ditch in a field near Newtonmore Golf Course.  It had small white flowers which looked a bit like an umbellifer (the Cow Parsley family).  However, instead of having  the flowers at the end of the stem, they stuck out at the side. Rather odd.

 I looked it up in my Wild Flower Key and thought it might be Fool's-water-cress (Apium nodiflorum). However, according to the records, it did not grow around here, indeed, the nearest record was near Elgin or in Drumnadrochit.  I asked for help from more experienced botanists (in this case Andy Amphlett and Ian Green), sending them some photos. I was delighted to find they also thought it was Fool's-water-cress, and Andy came down to have a look and confirm it. We found it all along the ditch and the stream that flows along the edge of the lower golf course by the railway.  So much of it, that it was surprising that no-one had noticed it before.  

Distribution of Apium Nodiflorum records

 Above is a BSBI map showing all their records of where Fool's-water-cress grows. As you can see from the map, it is common in England but quite rare in Scotland. The green square marked with an arrow is Newtonmore. I felt very chuffed that now there was an extra blob on the map that was all mine!  Although it is called Fool's-water-cress, I have never seen real water-cress growing in Newtonmore so if you see something similar, it is likely to be Fool's-water-cress.

Here are a few tips for recognising it.  

This is what the leaves look like close-up

It grows in the water, and is evergreen, so you can see the leaves at the moment (January) quite clearly in the golf course stream.

Fool's-water-cress in the stream - it grows in a tangled mess.

It flowers quite late in the year, in July and August:

If you pick a stem and break it, it smells just like parsnips!

It is easy to see where it grows just now, so it is worth going to have a look. And, who knows, you might find something no-one else has noticed yet! Let me know if you do.