A wetland and two cliffs plates

Here's the last 3 months' plates.....

The first painting in the set is the last of the wetland flowers plates.
Plate 1:From top left clockwise we have, monkey flower, marsh cinquefoil, heath spotted orchid, northern marsh orchid, amphibious bistort and mares tail.

Following this are the first two of the clifftop flowers plate.
Plate 2: From top left, clockwise, the flowers are spring squill, the lichen -  sea ivory, eyebright,
alpine meadow rue and mountain everlasting.
Plate 3: From top left, clockwise, the flowers are scottish primrose, wild thyme, cat's ear, roseroot and autumn hawkbit.

Shore, dunes, links and dry grassland

Shore, dunes, links and dry grassland

                                                        Sea Bindweed

We were able to see how dunes and links were formed by following the plants and wildflowers that stabilised the shifting sands. At No4 this succession takes place over a distance of at least 150 metres whereby the shore sand is stabilised firstly into yellow dunes, usually with Lyme Grass, and subsequently into grey dunes which are often characterised by Marram Grass. At Eastside the process takes place over a much shorter distance and the three stages can be found over a width of less than 30 metres.

Our visit coincided with the first trumpet blooms of Sea Bindweed – this is its only location in Orkney and grows no nearer to the county than Montrose in the east and the Hebrides in the west. By contrast the Lesser Meadow-rue was at its best and over the years I have never seen it looks so well. It is an understated plant and one which occurs only on South Ronaldsay, Sanday and Deerness.

                                                      

                                              Lesser Meadow-rue

                                                        

No4

Shore: Orache, Sea Sandwort, Sea Mayweed
Yellow dune: Lyme Grass
Grey dune: Marram Grass
Dump: Colt’s-foot, Groundsel
Cliff: Hedge Bindweed, Red Campion

Eastside

Track: Lady’s Bedstraw, Yellow Rattle, Field Forget-me-not
Links: Lady’s Bedstraw, Eyebright, Red Clover, White Clover
Shore: Oraches, Sea Sandwort, Oysterplant, Sea Rocket
Yellow dune: Sand Sedge, Lyme Grass, Sea Couch
Grey dune: Ragwort, Angelica, Hogweed, Sea Bindweed, Lesser Meadow-rue, Red Bartsia,
                   Yarrow, Spear Thistle, Smooth Sowthistle, Creeping Thistle, Eyebright, Bird’s-foot Trefoil,      
                   Lady’s Bedstraw, Field Forget-me-not

Birds and invertebrates:
Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Large White, Sand Martin

Acknowledgements: thanks to Martin Moncrieff for the Lesser Meadow-rue images

Yesnaby

Primula scotica

Tuesday 26^th June 2012                                                                        
11.00 – 14.00

Weather: little breeze, warm and plenty of sun.

Coastal Grassland:
Initially it appeared the grassland was dominated by Sea Arrow-grass and Sea Plantain but as soon as you got down on your hands and knees that closer look revealed all the plants that you would associate with coastal grassland. Sea Plantain came in all shapes and sizes; much of the path is composed of the tiniest of tiny plants – a sward of glossy green and fleshy leaves.

The Primula on the higher ground was barely in flower, this was in complete contrast to the more sheltered and sun-trap southeastern slope which was peppered with these minute gems. In ten days time the Primula show should be breathtaking.

Although we saw plenty of Spring Squill in flower, we saw far more of it in its seeding phase. It was a week or ten days too early for Grass of Parnassus – we saw a few ivory white flowers complete with their nectar guidelines. Wild Thyme was prolific in the areas of the thinnest soils and Martin found a white example for us to drool over.

Sea Plantain, Ribwort Plantain, Buck’s-horn Plantain, Spring Squill, Primula scotica, Sedges, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Wild Thyme, Common Milkwort, Heath Milkwort, Crowberry, Grass of Parnassus, Thrift, Common Mouse-ear, Kidney Vetch, Eyebright

Saltmarsh:

A lot of overlap here between the Coastal Grassland and the Saltmarsh. Plants on both habitats have the ability to tolerate saltwater drenchings. Little hollows in the coastal grassland revealed a few typical saltmarsh plants. The big surprise were the two Greater Sea-spurrey plants on salt drenched rocks in the Noust of Bigging.

Greater Sea-spurrey, Sea-milkwort, Sea Arrow-grass

                                                             Greater Sea-spurrey

Shore:

Sea Mayweed, Perennial Sow-thistle, Cleavers, Orache, Sea Campion

Disturbed ground:

Hogweed, Common Sorrel, Chickweed, Spear Thistle, Creeping Thistle

Wetland:

Yellow Flag, Reed Canary Grass, Water Mint, Ragged Robin, Marsh Cinquefoil, Northern Marsh Orchid, Heath Spotted Orchid, Lesser Spearwort, MarshPennywort, Marsh Ragwort

Coastal Heath:

The heath is yet to flower. The Bell Heather was just beginning to get serious but the Ling was a long way off. Most striking was the abundance of Mountain Everlasting plants – it must find the granite soils to its liking. The stems, leaves and unopened buds of Slender St.John’s-wort trailed through the heath and will be in flower in a couple of weeks time.

Ling, Bell Heather, Crowberry, Tormentil, Wild Thyme, Slender St.John’s-wort, Mountain Everlasting, Yellow Rattle

                                                               Mountain Everlasting

We headed off to Waulkmill Bay on 12th June. The last four weeks have been monotonously cold with northerly winds daily. Much of Waulkmill faces south so if anywhere in Orkney is likely to have blooms, it's going to be Waulkmill. It didn't disappoint although a few flowers were a wee bit late notably Bogbean and Goldenrod. Butterwort was brilliant and unashamedly here it is:

and here is the 'we'

the forest of Butterwort is directly behind the 'we'

here is our list - by no means exhaustive

Waulkmill toilets: Invasive plants and recolonising heath-type plants:

Broad-leaved Dock, Ragwort, Dandelion, Hogweed, Procumbent Pearlwort,

Heath Speedwell, Northern Marsh Orchid, Common Cats-ear, Greater Woodrush, Angelica

Waulkmill road: Invasive and heathland

Creeping Thistle, Red Clover, Rosebay Willowherb, Broad-leaved Dock, Cow Parsley, Ground Elder

Tormentil, Hard Fern, Ling, Marsh Thistle, Broad Buckler Fern, Meadowsweet, Ribwort Plantain, Lady’s Smock, Bush Vetch

Waulkmill track: Invasive and heathland

Greater Plantain; Rose-bay Willowherb, Broad-leaved Dock, Curled Dock, Ground Elder, Stinging Nettle

Ling, Meadowsweet, Greater Woodrush, Meadowsweet, Eared Willow, Tufted Hair-grass, Lousewort, Heath Woodrush, Red Campion, Angelica

Fen: wetland

Marsh Marigold, Ragged Robin, Bogbean

Shore:

Orache, Sea Mayweed, Cleavers, Perennial Sowthistle, Curled Dock, Scots Lovage, Silverweed, Procumbent Pearlwort, Yellow Flag

Lichens: Verrucaria (black) and Xanthoria (yellow)

Saltmarsh:

Sea Plantain, Scurvy-grass, Thrift, Sea-milkwort, Sea Arrowgrass

Cliffs:

Golden-rod, Butterwort, Aspen, Wood Sage, Common Milkwort, Foxglove and Moss Carder bees, Northern Marsh Orchid, Primrose, Honeysuckle, Eyebright, Common Dog Violet, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Bush Vetch, Slender St John’s Wort, Angelica, Crowberry

Also: two Garden Tiger caterpillars, a Common Heath moth, three Whimbrels, Arctic Tern, Red-breasted Mergansers, Eiders

Yellow Flag

After such a long winter the last week or so in Orkney has been a blessing. It has been a treat to feel warmth penetrating winter bones. Yet despite the favourable conditions the north wind still blows and the grass has barely grown. In recent years silage has been cut in the last week in May - it won't happen this year - it'll probably be another two weeks. So it came as something of a surprise when I was out with a class last night at the Dam of Hoxa in South Ronaldsay and found Yellow Flag in flower. It was a fairly large bed and there was but one bloom - maybe it was a freak, but a welcome freak.

Early in the season beds of Yellow Flag provide cover for Corncrakes when they first arrive in Orkney. This particular bed on Egilsay, also has Mare's-tail growing amongst it.

Corncrakes appear to prefer beds of Yellow Flag that are near buildings so that there calls can be accentuated by the echo effect.

I had two choices for the location of Yellow Flag

Stronsay mill

or

the mill of Boloquoy on Sanday

Boloquoy won - we just like the name!

And here is the text for this splendid plant

Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus)   Iris family                       Yellow lily, Segs

Queen-of-the-marshes, Queen-of-the-meadows

Height to 120cm; flowers May to July. Widespread and abundant in Orkney (26/28); easy to find.

In Somerset it is the Queen-of-the-marshes or the Queen-of-the-meadows, both names befitting such an elegant and statutesque plant. In the early days of April the first clumps of sword-shaped leaves stand proud like fakirs’ beds in all of Orkney’s damp and low-lying country. By June time these leaves are a metre high and chrome-yellow tipped buds, the colour of Whooper Swan’s beaks, soon unfurl chrome-yellow petals. By late autumn, the salt-laden gales have blackened the swords and the statuesque beauty of this perennial has shrivelled.

Iris is Greek for rainbow and symbolised life and resurrection and as an apotropaic averted evil. It is the source of the fleur-de-lys badge of French royalty and by the 19^th century had risen to become a plant of poetry. It is also a versatile plant and has been put to a wide variety of practical and medical uses. The rhizomes and seeds produce a strong black dye for ink while in the Highlands and the Western Isles, the leaves were used for thatching and basketry. Coopers found a use for the dried leaves as gap fillers between the staves of barrels. Medicinally it featured as an astringent, a powerful cathartic, a treatment for ulcers in the Outer Hebrides while in Orkney, and quoted in Spence’s Flora Orcadensis, it appears that the juice from the roots was sucked up through the nose as a cure for toothache. Equally dramatic was its use on Mull where the rhizomes were crushed with Daisies and a teaspoonful of juice poured into each nostril, prompting a copious flow of mucus and saliva. The seeds were roasted to provide ‘coffee’ and ground to provide ‘snuff’. Not so long ago, children in Orkney made ‘seggy boats’ from the leaves and there was a belief among those that made the boats, that chewing the leaf would render one dumb. Remains of Yellow Iris have been found in the ancient middens of Orkney’s Skara Brae.

Lousewort

In the last couple of weeks, despite the fact it has been so bitterly cold, a few flowers are beginning to poke through. I've taken birdwatching classes to Waulkmill and Corrigall in the last week and seen Red Campion, Common Milkwort, Common Dog Violet and Tormentil in flower.

The 'hill' can appear quite dead and brown over the winter - it's a long time till the first heathers start to bloom. Often the first plant of the hill to flower is Lousewort and its pink flowers brighten up some of the damper patches of the moorland. We came upon it at the end of April and each subsequent visit to the hill in early May has witnessed more and more in flower.

Here is the draft text for Lousewort:

Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica)   Figwort family

Money-in-the-purse, -the-box, -the-basket, -the-rattle.
Height to 15cm; flowers April to July. Widespread and abundant in Orkney (21/28); easy to find.

 The belief that this pretty perennial infests cattle and sheep with lice and liver fluke has been prevalent for centuries – hence its unfortunate name. Indeed recognition of this supposed ability no doubt accounts for the first part of its Latin name which means louse. The case for spreading lice is not proven but transmission of liver-flukes is possible. The plant succeeds in the poorest of wet and heathy soils; any browsing animals that have been sentenced to find nutrition in such conditions are in all probability likely to struggle and be susceptible to the water-borne liver-fluke embryos. Much better press is forthcoming from the Outer Hebrides where it is considered to increase the milk yield of goats and in Shetland where children used to seek out its sweet ‘honey’ flowers.

In Orkney it is most frequently found among heather where it has a distinct preference for the wetter areas; indeed occasionally it can be found in the drier parts of bogs and marshes. Like its close relative Yellow Rattle it is a part-parasite of roots, but unlike its close relative it occurs only on acidic soils. The many stems spread from the base and carry prettily crimped leaves while the fairly large Snapdragon-like flowers are composed of two dark pink petals the upper lip longer than the lower. As with many flowers, white-flowered forms are encountered sporadically. The inflated seed capsules, which persist into winter, are the reason for its other names Money-in-the-purse, -the- box, -the-basket and –the-rattle.

inflated seed capsules

Wetland plate four

Here's the next wetland plate.  There are 6 species in this one. clockwise from top; Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil, Brooklime, Meadow Buttercup, Water Horsetail, Marsh Horsetail and Brackish Water Crowfoot.