Scilly, Part III

Monday 4th July

On the 4th we went for a wander round the closer section of St.Mary's, taking in the dump, lower moor and Old Town, before the evening pelagic. 

The dump was a good spot, where had Kangaroo Apple, Giant Rhubarb, the giant Echium (lots in gardens) and Fig-leaved Goosefoot among others. We also managed to grab the first German Ivy of the trip beside the road.

The most bizarre find at the dump was Giant Umbrella Sedge, which we could make head nor tail of. It was only when Pete grabbed a bird report from the post office that we found it identified in the plant section with photos of the exact same plant(s)! That bird report has a lot of great non-birdy stuff in it.

The pelagic turned up Poor Cod and Blue Shark, and a distant Wilson's Petrel, which I didn't see. It was too far away for me to have been happy ticking it but Tim got a look at it. We saw a few compass jellyfish from the boat. One Blue Shark was caught for the tagging program It was all a bit frantic (and grim, to be honest) when the shark was on board so I have no photos of it on the boat and poor ones as it came aboard. Happy that shark tagging might help conservation but even the tagging is quite a brutal thing to watch.

Tuesday, 5th July

Tuesday had been earmarked for Tresco, for which our expectations were too high. It's highly likely we could have made more use of our visit, but the weather was good, the island was nice, and we did add a fair few plants, including Peppermint-scented Geranium, Fennel-leaved Pondweed and Bugle Lily, as well as Dune Robber Fly and Dune Villa (the bee fly Villa modesta).

My favourite plant of the day, maybe the trip, was the weird Senecio glastifolius, which we first found as wholly gone over, then as leaves, then with flowers, allowing us to nail the ID (Tim's magic phone app identified it on leaves, I think). Woad-leaved Ragwort. Shiny thick leaves, purple flowers. Naturally I didn't take any photos of it with flowers.

Shrub Goldilocks

Tree-of-love

Woad-leaved Ragwort

After a suitable rest we did a bit of moth trapping at the dump, with dusking forays down to Old Town bay. Sand Dart was a nice find on the bay, while Kent Black Arches was the best of the trapping.

Sand Dart

Scilly, Part II

Sunday 3rd - marine

In the afternoon we had our first go at rockpooling. We made our way over the large cobbles to the edge of the tide, which it turned out later was not the best tactic we could have pursued - the rock pools higher up the shore were more accessible and better. It wasn't the best time of the year by far, and the low tides were quite high. This was going to be the lowest of the week, though. We still had some fun things.

The Thongweed was much in evidence, both with thongs and as buttons

There were superabundant Montagu's Crabs in amongst the Green Shore and Broad-clawed Porcelain crabs. We didn't see any other crabs - not even a single hermit, though these are apparently on the eelgrass beds. Many of the Monty's had spawn.

There were a few new seaweeds, including Eyelash Weed.

And a couple of my most anticipated species - Snakelocks Anemone and Cushion Star. 

Another anticipated species, and one of my favourites, was Lightbulb Sea Squirt.

All in all, not a bad start. There were a lot of other species we might have hoped for, but there was no way we were going to get big returns on such a high tide. Another metre might have made a lot of difference, and we did find another couple of things later in the week. I wouldn't mind giving Scilly rock pooling another bash at a different time of year - and with more knowledge.

Scilly, Part I

Photocopied map from the new flora

Friday 1st - pre-game

Briza maxima was the first thing I saw when I stepped out of the car in Penzance. There was also pavement weed Nasturtium and plenty of Mexican Fleabane on display. Had I paid attention I would have had other things, but I did get them at the end (to be resumed)

The Scillonian III was waiting for us in at the quay.

and the first of many fish and chips to build up the stamina for the week ahead

Saturday, 2nd July

Leaving Penzance

Travel to St.Mary's by Scillonian III from Penzance, arriving in the afternoon. We saw some probably-Common dolphins, but not good enough views to be sure - for us, at least. Luggage took a bit of time to arrive with Island Carriers, but otherwise a drama (and excitement) free trip. Our luggage was picked up early on the way back so we must have been near the start/end of the circuit.

Our first look at the Scilly vegetation, with plenty of new things to look at as soon as we got off the boat. Bizarrely, I didn't take any decent pics of the abundant Aeoniums, even though it's kind of a signature plant of Hugh Town. I do have this Fleshy Yellow Sorrel, though.

We had a quick tour of the Garrison on Saturday night, picking up a few plants along the way, including Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil and Sea Storksbill.

Purple Dewplant (Disphyma crassifolium) is everywhere, both in gardens and out and I got my first gripping views of the legend that is Annual Mercury. We had some nice Jersey Cudweed, Rubus ulmifolius and Hoary Stock, all together in a little storage yard beside the road. Don't expect me to remember English and scientific names. Not at the same time, anyway.

Sunday, 3rd July, terrestrial

With rock pooling awaiting us in the afternoon a short trip to Peninnis Head was scheduled. There were plenty of bits and bobs encountered, with a trip-target Teloschistes albicans (Golden Hair Lichen) waiting for us on the rocks beneath the lighthouse.

First, we zig-zagged down Buzza Hill and this Silverleaf Everlastingflower was on the hedge to the hospital. It is also everywhere else too, though.

Balm-leaved Figwort is also almost ever-present. I didn't photograph the leaves - of course not!

We also saw the short, papillose leaves of Pale Dewplant, though I can't recall if we recognised it at the time. Let's say we did and move on.

Cape Daisy (Osteospermum jucundum) is also just about everywhere, apparently in every single garden, and inevitably elsewhere too. Flat, toothy leaves stand out from the crown.

I also had my first ever Conehead (Long-winged - straight cerci), though I did think I had a cricket at first.

Another ever-present on the islands is Karo - Pittosporum, with some rather aesthetically-pleasing seed pods.

And finally ... the Teloschistes near the lighthouse. It's the yellow stuff in the foreground on the right here. The rock formations here are a feature in their own right.

Sunday 3rd,  marine ... later

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

May Flies

A good month for new flies in May, both for me and the county 

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.