Jersey Cudweed in Dalgety Bay, flowering plant #422

After finding Jersey Cudweed new to Fife at Stenhouse a couple of weeks back it now seems it's also a pavement weed in Dalgety Bay. iRecord shows that it seems pretty well established in Edinburgh, already way in advance of the Atlas distribution

Warty Cabbage in Inverkeithing

Made a quick circle of Ballast Bank area beside the harbour in Inverkeithing, principally to see if anything interesting birdy was going on. There wasn't, though it was pleasant enough. Catching my eye, though, was a large yellow-flowered crucifer that I was pretty certain I didn't know. Turned out to be Bunias orientalis, the Warty Cabbage, or Turkish Rocket, which sounds much nicer. This is it here.

Flowering plant #420 for Dalgety Bay - Medium-flowered Winter-cress

A species that I saw coming into flower  at St.Margaret's Marsh this week, but was surprised to also find growing along the hedge/roadside at Barns farm this morning. No idea how many times I've walked down this road, including this week, but in my defence I was doing a BBS survey at the time.

There were about 10 plants along a stretch of about 10m, some of them a pretty decent size.

Wood Anemone - flowering plant 418 for Dalgety Bay

 

Thus far overlooked in Ross Plantation, but now flowering in one tiny area there.

Abraham-Isaac-Jacob - flowering plant 417 for Dalgety Bay

In the woods behind my house, and presumably there all along without my noticing. Flowering in February is a sneaky trick.

It's also species 2441 on my Dalgey Bay list, which means I only need 59 more to reach my target 2.5k

Isolepis setacea, Bristle Club-rush, in Cullaloe Hills

After a weekend with Seth adding a few new plants to tip me over the 900, we didn't really come into habitat that would work for this small plant, but I did know from Seth's description that the path through the Cullaloe Hills should be perfect.

So it was that, avoiding a bus that was on fire on the way to my dad's, I ended up detoured to that exact spot. I pulled over and took about 45 seconds to add it to NT18, one of the few squares in the country where it's not recorded. Job done. It might have been 30 seconds had I not had to fend off a large, muddy dog, whose owner assured me was friendly. I had to point out that, friendly or not, it was covered in mud that I didn't want and swore at the dog. He got the message and called it away pretty quickly, fortunately. 

NT18 is the "mline" of "Dunfermline"

Possibly the worst field photo of all time, any plant

NT18 vascular plant update

Middle of June I have recorded vascular plants in 52 of the 81 terrestrial squares in NT18. That looks like this:

I've recorded 409 of targetted 500 plants and added 24 species to the square list. I think I'm still in with a decent chance. I slowed down after the winter-available plants started to dry up and there was a degree of repetition creeping in. That looked like this...

Now I'm on a steady climb and if I can turn a blind eye to inverts once in a while it'll be all good. Also if I can start to work on my Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Juncaceae ...

Also, I today exceeded my previous plant record highest total with a new total of  1978 records - previous high 1973 records in 2020. I expect I may add one or two more. I've seen 51 new vascular plants this year, though a good few of those haven't been in NT18 or VC85.

Great Lettuce in Dalgety Bay

A random find in the back of the industrial estate while out cycling with the boy. About 20 plants here, and another in a different back street on the way home. Flowering plant 414 for the Bay

Well, I woke up this morning ....

A pre-breakfast stroll around the eastern cliffs of Dalgety Bay turned up a remarkable three new flowering plant species (for Dalgety Bay) and a moth. I was sort of looking for something else (Spring Vetch, Purple Milk Vetch), but that'll do for one morning. I was supposed to be gathering flies but fortunately it was too windy.

Kidney Vetch

Common Centaury

Common Mallow

While searching the heath at Hopeward Point I noticed a really scabby Lotus, which at first I thought was a different plant until I realised it was being eaten alive by Coleophora discordella. That was new for me, so a nice random find.

Love is the (Berwick) Law

A brief family wander up Berwick Law unexpectedly delivered three new plants. First up as we made our way up the path was this lovely Purple Milk Vetch

Had I read up properly in advance I would have known this was a possibility. I was only vaguely looking out for Dianthus, which I didn't see. Probably needed to go off piste a bit more. Second up was this nice Meadow Rue nearer the top.

And then, fully three days later, I sussed this Bur Chervil that was at the summit. I had spotted this tiny Anthriscus but couldn't believe it was the usual one (sylvestris). Turned out it really was an Anthriscus after all though - A.caucalis. Since I figured it out from a small section in a packet from my wallet it's also the first specimen I've identified from a "herbarium specimen". The fruits are distinctively hook-haired and I bounced off Rose onto the BSBI handbook for confirmation.

Shame none of them were in Fife, but you can't have everything.

Common Cornsalad in Dalgety Bay - 400th flowering plant

This afternoon found a large area of flowering Common Cornsalad in the car park of BAE (waiting for someone to challenge me for loitering in BAE car park!). This is the 400th flowering plant I have a record for in Dalgety Bay.

Must be some sort of salad on the cards as there was also Allium vineale, Wild Garlic (Onion) and some peas, albeit Broad-leaved Everlasting Pea.

Plants quickie update

Been neglecting plants of late, trying to pick up some better distribution of flies now the sun is shining (ish).

However, a few nice and expected things are emerging. The Lords-and-ladies is flowering in Dalgety Bay, and I found a new patch this lunchtime at St.Margaret's. The Adoxa in Aberdour is alive and well. And, while visiting St.Margaret's to check out the flies I also stumbled across Middle-flowered Winter-cress (Barbarea intermedia), which was a very nice surprise, and my 15th addition to the NT18 list this year. Oh, and the Woodruff in Dalgety Bay. I forgot to mention the Woodruff that I looked in on yesterday - yep, all fine.

I need to get my finger out now there's a big surge in plant appearance. Otherwise I'm going to miss a bunch of spring-flowering things.

Woodruff

Town Hall Clock

Lords-and-ladies

Myosotis discolor - a popping up pavement weed

Barbarea intermedia

Lower stem leaves

Upper stem leaves

Springbeauty new to Dalgety Bay/NT18

 

After seeing a splendid display of Springbeauty (Claytonia perfoliata) in St.Andrews over the weekend I was surprised to see, on the way to the shop this morning, a single plant at the base of the wall beside Tesco. Having concentrated on the flowering tips previously I was glad I had a look at less mature plants with only leaves. 

The leaf similarity with Pink Purslane is obvious and I discovered that it has the alternate name of Winter Purslane. Maybe other people know it by this primarily. I've had that experience before ("Do you know Jack-by-the-hedge?" ... no - never heard of it)

Flowering plant 398 for Dalgety Bay. Vascular plant #296 for NT18, 2022.

NT18 - You've sunk my Hellebore!

Went for a lunchtime wander around Aberdour, an old town with plentiful gardens and garden escape possibilities

It was mostly routine stuff. Oxford rag is shooting up all over the place right now, and there was plenty of that about. There's also a Myosotis (Forget-me-not), which I think is arvensis, that's filling many pavement edges. The leaves don't fit M.ramossissima (Early), so far as I can tell.

There's one passage parallel to the railway line where an embankment is dotted with various Cotoneasters. I haven't by any means figured all them out, and maybe I never will!

H.argutifolius

Best find was a flowering Corsican Hellebore (Helleborus argutifolius) that is perched oddly on top of an old wall. It seems that this is the only square in Fife where it has been recorded and, had I not gone down this exact backstreet, I would never otherwise have come across it.

BSBI Atlas square

That's species 287 for NT18 this year, and there may be one or two more still to ID from yesterday. If I really, really pushed it I might have been able to get to 300 by end of February. But I'm not going to.

In further news I discovered an old record of Siberian Squill at ... Cullaloe! By the entrance road!! That can't still be there. Can I really have been missing it for 30 years?

The Who aren't a band I think about very often, but somehow this song came to mind. Seek and ye shall find.

NT18 - Inverkeithing

NT1282, a square with a harbour, a railway line, a park and ride/bus station, allotments and a cemetery, is surely a square with potential. Over 50 spp., recorded but with nothing particularly out of the ordinary, except this rampant Persian Ivy. It has the ize, the leaf shape, the smell, the red petioles, but I couldn't find any of the stellate hairs, which was disappointing. I guess I need to snag a younger part of the plant.

I only managed a wander down the main road and a bit bordering the allotments. There were, as usual, some mystery plants, so I expect there might be yet some surprises in store here.

I also stumbled across, almost literally, this giant puffball, which must have looked lovely last year

A promising looking pile of mulch yielded almost nothing on the beetle front, which was disappointing. I figure it was quite a new pile and hasn't been populated yet.

NT18: Aberdour loop, NT1884

Presented with a two hour window of free time yesterday I headed for a square not botanised this year, but also carrying a tray and sieve. 

The botanical haul in NT1884 was fairly routine, but gave a reasonable account of the square in February. Perhaps not enough woodland/arable covered as I skirted the coast and golf course. I found a lovely marshy area which will require further bothering for invertebrates later in the year, but which already delivered on a brief prodding.

I found this Leistus fulvibarbis under the loose bark of a large log, under which was a nest belonging to a quickly-escaping small mammal. I hope it returned happily after I left.

The marshy area held a few Stenus, including S.bimaculatus, which was only new to Fife from Cullaloe a couple of years back.

Finally looking at other habitats than tussocks I had a bit of a seaweed shake and found Cafius xantholinus and Omalium laeviusculum. The latter appears new to me, though I can't quite believe that. Must have forgotten to write it down at some point, surely.

Cafius

Omalium

Last night I found something even more intriguing on the Cafius - a Laboulbeniomycete, which appears to be the host-specific Laboulbenia littoralis, only described in 2014. That requires some more confirmation (though I'm claiming it!) as it doesn't yet appear on NBN. The species is known from Belgium and France, the locations under consideration in the original 2014 description. I have a sneaking suspicion that I remember a Laboulbeniomycete new to Britain was documented by Mark Telfer in the recent past. It couldn't be this one, could it? (no - it was on a millipede). It looks like this:

a femur-full

mature fungus, spores escaping at the tip

In order to complete my loop I had to wander out and in of my 1k square, which threw me into a street full of Mind-your-own-business. This is a plant scarce in Fife, and previously known from the St.Andrews area. Since the start of the year, this is the 2nd location in NT18 that I've found it running wild.

A small sample of far more extensive cover. 

New plants for the year in NT18 were Veronica beccabunga (Brooklime), Hypericum tetrapterum (Square-stalked St.John's Wort) and Iris pseudacorus (Yellow Flag Iris).Current total 283.