Bad news for Purple hairstreaks in Kirkcaldy since the storm. Two large oaks toppled and one with most of its top ripped off in Ravenscraig Park
About half an hour of searching revealed only one PH egg, but I must have searched about 0.001% or less of the available branch tips.
Also not great news for bins, though a Beech took this one out
Not exactly famous, but I finally wandered along them when I noticed that, unbelievably, I hadn't ever walked along the bottom of them before. They were pretty bare, as quite exposed I suppose, and not covered in stuff, but what was there was interesting. Not really the best time of year to assess either, really though. Plenty of seepages, and a definite calcareous flavour means they might actually turn up something peculiar.
As it was, they did turn up a new moss and a new fern on this visit in Sea Spleenwort. As far as I know there are no prior Dalgety Bay records.
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| Sea Spleenwort |
There was a small shelf of Wild Garlic, which I've only ever seen a couple of bits of in other locations.
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| Allium vineale |
The calcareous nature of the cliff face was revealed in frequent tufts of the moss Eucladium verticillatum, with its characteristic white lower portions. It has toothed and hyaline lower "wings". Sadly, I don't think I captured any of the tufts.
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| Eucladium |
To make up the plant additions of the day I found a half dozen rosettes of Bristly Oxtongue, which isn't particularly frequent around here.
This is definitely a stretch that will see some grilling in the coming year.
(Comparitive Plant Ecology lists pH for A.vineale, Weld and Bristly Oxtongue as 6.5,7.0,7.0 respecitvely, so maybe it's more neutral)
Though I may also have forgotten Sweet Chestnut, in which case 391st!
