Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been a while since my last post - not because nothing has been happening, rather the opposite.  At the beginning of May I spent a week in Fife with other Lichen enthusiasts, most of whom I knew from Zoom sessions but had never met in person.  I had a brilliant time as up until now I have been a solitary lichener  and really enjoyed going out on field trips with others.  We also had fantastic weather as shown in this photo taken at Earlsferry.

I also got to see some new (to me) lichens such as cornflake lichen, a brilliant golden yellow coastal species.

"Cornflake lichen" Xanthoria aureola

And a less impressive one known as "Fag ash lichen"

Fag Ash Lichen Porpidia tuberculosa

I also got a chance to play with microscopes:

 - and will soon have one of my own as I have ordered one.  In the meantime, a kind friend has loaned me their microscope and I am having fun slicing up lichens and looking at them. 

Driving back from Fife, there was a traffic queue on the A9 and I amused myself by spotting Danish Scurvy grass on the road verges!

With the warm weather, plenty of plants have started to flower. On Newtonmore Golf Course and up Geln Banchor, there is a tiny yellow flower that looks like a miniature version of gorsewith small pea type flowers and tiny spikes. Its name reflects that as it is called Petty Whin (Genista anglica).

It just manages to peep above the grass.  To get an idea of its scale, here it is next to a sprig of Broom.

While waiting for a friend, I also did a bit of botanising in Kingussie.  The field next to the Bowling Green had 3 kinds of Speedwell.

Left to right: Thyme-leaved Speedwell, Germander Speedwell, Slender Speedwell

Danish Scurvy grass (again), a fern and a lichen

 A large patch of Danish Scurvy Grass (Cochlearia danica) is flowering opposite the Balavil Hotel just now (1 May 2023). It is the biggest patch I have seen in Newtonmore Village.  There was a previous post about this plant here, but I couldn't resist mentioning it again. It is a coastal plant as it tolerates salt, but as the roads are salted in winter, it has found a niche  alongside the roads. Its flowers are white but the buds are an attractive shade of mauve.

Easy to find! Under the bench and to the right.

Last weekend, I went to the Spring Meeting of the Highland Biological Recording Group which was held in Spean Bridge.  There were some interesting talks, including one about Loch Arkaig Pine woods which we were to visit in the afternoon.  However, to get there, you have to cross the  Caledonian Canal at Gairlochy where there is a swing bridge.  Unfortunately, by the time I got there the bridge had broken down, with half the party on the other side and half still on the Spean Bridge side!  So that trip was abandoned and I made my way back home.  Not wanting to waste the drive, I did some lichen hunting on the way back.  First stop was by Pattack Falls. A well as lichens, there was a nice patch of a Polypody fern on a rock, with the sun shining through it. The sun showed up the little brown circles on the underside of the fern.  These are called sori and hold the spores that ferns use to reproduce.

Common Polypody

There was also a lichen on the same rock, that was unfamiliar to me. Round crusty patches, white at the edges and beige in the centre.

There are little circles in the centre which are fruiting bodies (apothecia) and close up they look like mini-volcanoes.

I did some testing - which involves adding a very small drop of two chemicals and seeing if there is any colour change. Bleach went red and Potassium hydroxide went yellow. This helps with ID.  I think this lichen is called Diploschistes scruposus. Unfortunately there's no easy name!