We spent all day visiting a range
of habitats within one monad (1km square).
We started recording on the roadside verges, finding a range of familiar
plants, then we started to climb up the hill.
The order in which we found plants was interesting as we moved from dry
heathland to wetter areas further up the hill.
We recorded the following plants in this order: Heather (Calluna vulgaris), Bell Heather (Erica cinerea), Crowberry (Empetrum
nigrum), Green-ribbed Sedge (Carex
binervis), Mat-grass (Nardus stricta),
Hard-fern (Blechnum spicant), Heath
Rush (Juncus squarrosus), Deergrass (Trichophorum germanicum), Purple
Moor-grass (Molinia caerulea), Cross-leaved
Heath (Erica tetralix), Common
Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium),
Common Yellow-sedge (Carex demissa), Star Sedge (Carex echinata), Pill Sedge (Carex
pilulifera), Flea Sedge (Carex
pulicaris) and Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera
rotundifolia).
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Liz showing Amy and Hannah the leaves of
Crowberry growing amongst the Heather
|
We managed to find a dry patch behind a rock to have
lunch. After lunch we had to negotiate
the many ditches but we were rewarded by finding some interesting flushes. Then
the find of the day, amongst Bog Pondweed (Potamogeton polygonifolius) were at
least 10 tiny bog orchids (Hammarbya paludosa).
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| Reaching the top of the hill |
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Bog orchid (Hammarbya paludosa)
|
We then followed a stream down the hill, finding Marsh
Arrowgrass (Triglochin palustris), Wavy
Hair-grass (Deschampsia flexuosa), Hare's-tail
Cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum), Northern
Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza purpurella)
and Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum).
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| Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum) |
Finally back down at the road we found Herb-Robert
(Geranium robertianum), a rare native
plant in Shetland, although this one was probably a garden escape. We then followed a stream, still finding new plants including Bottle Sedge (Carex rostrata) and Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata). We
had recorded around 150 plants during the day.
Botanical highlight: Hammarbya paludosa
Non-botanical highlight: Mountain Hare
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