A9-ning

 North of Kingussie is a stretch of the "new" A9 where it has been upgraded into dual carriageway (much to the relief of locals as now you can overtake safely). There is also a cycle path alongside the North bound carriageway so you can safely have a look at the verge and slopes to see what is growing there. I feel some affinity to the A9 as in 1976 we moved up here to work on the "new" A9 between Calvine and Drumochter.

Along with husband and dog, I parked by the Wildlife Park access road and headed North along the bike path. I was on a mission to find Danish Scurvy Grass (Cochlearia danica) as there had been a request to check how far it had spread along the A9.  This is normally a coastal plant as it does not mind salt, but the same conditions arise alongside roads that are salted so it has spread along the A9 from Inverness. The red squares on the map show the places that it has been noticed and recorded  - and you can see that there is a big gap along the A9 from North of Aviemore to Newtonmore. It is very likely that it is growing in many more places, but no one has recorded it. 

Map showing places where Danish Scurvy Grass has been recorded (from BSBI)

I have found it in Newtonmore, and it is flowering at the moment alongside the wall of the Balavil Hotel. There are quite a few small white flowered plants around just now, but the ivy shaped leaf helps to distinguish it from the others.

Danish Scurvy Grass

leaf and buds

In fact , I did not find any on the stretch that I walked, but if you see any, let me know!

 Although I did not find what I went for, I did collect two dandelions to ID, both of which turned out to be new records for East-Inverness-shire, and one (Taraxacum exsertum) was the furthest north record in the UK.

Taraxacum vastisectum

Taraxacum exsertum (it has very pointed ends to the leaves)

Hang on a minute, I hear you say, aren't they both the same? Well, no, but the differences in dandelion microspecies are quite hard to spot which is why every one is verified by a referee who will confirm or correct your ID from a series of photos of the different features. I managed to ID the T. exsertum correctly but had to be put right for the T. vastisectum.

There were a few more interesting things to report from the A9 excursion, but I will save them for another post.