Inverkeithing Greenshank

 Earlier in the month (17/08) a Greenshank popped into Inverkeithing, oddly choosing the small beach beside Stone Marine over the harbour area.

Ruff around the edges - Stenhouse Reservoir

Half a dozen Ruff were at the edge of Stenhouse Reservoir yesterday. It's been recently closed as a fishery and the water levels are being reduced. 

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.

Dalbeath Marsh

A random foray into a place I haven't visited for a long time. So long, in fact, that I hadn't been aware of the Greater Tussock Sedge that's pretty prominent there. 

New to me was a mayfly that I would have normally ignored, except I recently discovered that I had bought a field guide and immediately forgotten it. Turned out to be a Pond Olive (Cloeon dipterum), which has no hind wings (hence dipterum), and the most outrageous eyes, which apparently are useful for picking out females in a swarm (the theory goes). 

A bonus for the visit was first-for-VC85 (and me) weevil Limnobaris dolorosa, which is a muncher of Sedges and Sedges. I don't have a good photo, so this'll have to do for now.

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.

Calcicole fungal findings

Finding the wind a bit too strong on the coast for the flies I wanted I headed slightly (very slightly) inland to a very sheltered pond in Inverkeithing I know to see if I could do better. Stepping out of the car I saw a fungus I'd never seen before, and which I was excited to see - Helvella corium. Not that I knew that at the time, but I knew ballpark where it belonged and I knew it was new. 

Helvella corium

Into a pot with one fruiting body and making my way to the pond, "What the hell is THIS?" Another new fungus poking out from the path edge that was some sort of morel, but another new one for sure.

Verpa conica

It turned out to be Verpa conica.

Both of these species are very scarce in Scotland, and both calcicole. That's one of the big plusses of the Inverkeithing area, is that the plants etc. are a bit different because of how calcareous that area is.

Passing the photos on to an expert friend he told me he had encountered both commonly on calcareous slopes in Scandinavia. This area definitely has lots more calcicole novelty in the tank.

Wood Anemone - flowering plant 418 for Dalgety Bay

 

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