Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles

There are old, unlocalised, anonymous records for Ammophila arenaria (Marram) in NG37 and NG47 at the north end of Trotternish.  Following last April’s find of this species in Sleat I decided to make use of today’s beautiful weather to try and find it in NG37 where there is limited coastline to go at. A look at the OS map and Google Earth suggested that the stretch in tetrad NG37V was a good bet. I failed on that, but there was plenty of sandy soil and the coast is eroding so fast that the 1958 plants could well have been washed away by now. However, I did find Carex arenaria (Sand Sedge), the first record for Skye north of Dunvegan.

Carex arenaria

Overall, I increased the taxon count for the tetrad from 44 to 101 but a return visit in three months’ time would surely add as many again.  Things in flower were limited to e.g. Bellis perennis (Daisy), Chrysosplenium oppositifolium (Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage), Cochlearia officinalis (Common Scurvygrass), Ficaria verna subsp. fertilis (Lesser Celandine) and Ulex europaeus (Gorse).

Cochlearia officinalis agg.

The Sedum rosea (Roseroot) leaf buds are bursting:

Sedum rosea

and there was evidence on the beach of the recent storms:

I am delighted to be helping Frances Priest with this project in conjunction with Atlas Arts and Raasay House.

The work will explore the flora and habitats of Raasay through a collection of bespoke decorative ceramics which will be permanently installed at Raasay House. This work will relate to an illustrated map of botanical walks across the island and a limited edition range of Parian vessels featuring hand-drawn illustrations.

The work will launch on Saturday 6th June with a series of guided botanical walks across the island. For further information and updates about the project visit Atlas Arts

The new National Plant Monitoring Scheme, launched today, will for the first time enable scientists to take an annual stock take of the UK’s wild plants and their habitats, but to do this we need the public’s help. We are looking for volunteers to carry out surveys of wildflowers and their habitats that will provide robust evidence of which widespread plants are increasing or declining, as well as indicating the changing state of our most valued habitats such as grassland, fenland and even road verges. Plants are nature’s building blocks and this new monitoring scheme will sit alongside existing schemes for the UK’s birds and butterflies to help us understand more about how the countryside is changing.

If you are interested, there is more here.