Images of Smut

The bin lorries can't get to where I live, so I need to walk my rubbish and recycling down to the pier, a walk of maybe 300 metres. The track to the pier passes beneath some mature Beech trees, alongside a low stone wall, past some derelict buildings and ends at the tarmac road by the pier. It's all a bit overgrown and untidy, meaning there's always something different that catches my eye whenever I pass through. 

Today I spent a short while exploring the walls of the derelict buildings, basically just taking pics of the various plant species that have colonised the exposed stonework and cracked render. Some were entirely expected, Maidenhair Spleenwort for example is everywhere up here, as is Fuchsia and Buddleja. But I found a couple of less expected species too. 

A couple of the derelict buildings just upslope from the pier

And here are a selection of the plants I found growing out of the walls

 

Butterfly Bush Buddleja davidii

A young Prickly Sow-thistle Sonchus asper

Common Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris

Hart's-tongue Fern Asplenium scolopendrium

Maidenhair Fern Asplenium trichomanes is abundant on most old mortared walls up here

Short-fruited Willowherb Epilobium obscurum with another sow-thistle

Fuchsia Fuchsia magellanica is another common species up here

Presumably Red Fescue Festuca rubra. It's an abundant grass here

Wall Lettuce Mycelis muralis. A really good plant on Skye, known only from the Broadford area!

Ribwort Plantain Plantago lanceolata

Wilson's Honeysuckle Lonicera nitida. Not sure I've ever seen this growing out of a wall before!

Common Figwort Scrophularia nodosa. Can't honestly say I expected to find this on a wall

Entire-leaved Cotoneaster Cotoneaster integrifolius which can become a bit of a menace

An Ash Fraxinus excelsior sapling!

Leaving the buildings, I headed back to the house quite happy with the Wall Lettuce and Wilson's Honeysuckle records. On a low wall I spied a large clump of Intermediate Polypody Polypodium interjectum and, more out of habit than expectation, had a quick peer on the underside for signs of Psychoides damage. Well...

Do you see them yet?

I checked a few more fronds and soon found this

Aah, now you see them!

Now that's what I call a pretty heavy Psychoides infestation! I took a frond back to my microscope to confirm which of the two Psychoides species I had found, though the untidy mess (and my previous Skye records) already strongly hinted at the species involved. 

Just so we're all on the same page here, there are two species of micromoths in the genus Psychoides that occur in Britain. They both lay eggs on various species of fern and the newly-hatched larva starts off by mining the leaf tissue before emerging onto the underside of the frond whereupon it uses silk to bind together fragments of the fern's spore-bearing sori into a 'tent', under which it hides as it feeds. One species constructs rather messy 'tents' and the other makes nice neat ones, which it moves around in as it feeds. The two species can be reliably told apart from each other as larvae by checking the colour of the prothoracic plate (which sits immediately behind the head) and anal plate (at the 'tail' end). 

P.filicivora has a pale to mid-brown head capsule, a transparent prothoracic plate (allowing the brown head capsule to be seen through it) and a pale anal plate the same colour as the body segments. 

P.verhuella has a blackish head capsule and prothoracic plate, and the anal plate is also blackish, contrasting with the pale body segments. 

Time to see who we have...

Brown head capsule is readily visible through the covering prothoracic plate, no dark anal plate.

This is Psychoides filicivora, the one with the messy 'tent' and the only one of the two species so far known to occur here on Skye. Here's a handy comparison pic I just nabbed off Wikipedia, of all places

I took lots of pics by pointing my camera down the barrel of my microscope. Quality is a bit hit and miss when using this technique (it is for me, at least) but I was pleased with this short video clip. It shows a larva, which I'd rudely unearthed from below its tent, in the process of putting together a fresh tent. I should probably stop calling it a tent, maybe retreat would be a better word. Anyway, if you view this on a big screen you can just about see the silk being produced from the mouthparts and used to bind loose fragments of sorus together! 

The English name for Psychoides filicivora is Fern Smut. Just in case you were wondering why I used a clickbait-esque post title... 

Playing Pontoon

Ok, so it's been a very long time since I last played Pontoon and nowadays I'm somewhat rusty regards the rules. But once upon a time I was very good at it. Thankfully for me, the pontoon I was involved with today was of the floating type that boats moor up to and nothing at all to do with playing cards.

There's a glass-bottomed boat that runs nature trips from Kyle of Localsh, just across the Skye Bridge from me. I've never been on it, but looking at a few images on their website I think I ought to book myself on the 2hr cruise and grab the best underwater window with an eye to seeing lots of fish. The boat has gone off to spend the winter elsewhere, and the pontoon itself is currently being dismantled and taken away for cleaning and to mend some knackered brackets. Or so the guys in hi-viz jackets told me. They certainly seemed curious regards why I wanted to walk along an empty pontoon, but soon lost interest when I told them I was looking at the animals growing on the underwater sections. "Aye go ahead, just don't fall in" was the sage advice from one of them. Cheers fella, I'll certainly bear that in mind...

I didn't take a pic of the pontoon itself, so here's one I lifted from their website

Now imagine it without the boat, handrail or red floats

I wandered a little way beyond the bend and then concentrated on the landward side of the pontoon, figuring I was far enough offshore to be in the 'interesting' zone and on the sheltered side to help me see through the rippling water surface. I don't know if it really did make any difference where I positioned myself, but in the fifteen minutes I lay belly down looking into the watery depths I certainly saw quite a lot of life. Sadly all of it destined to be jetted, scraped and chemically doused within the next few days. I shall definitely have to check a bit earlier in the season next time. I wonder how long it takes for a decent aquatic fauna to develop, a few months at least I guess.

As mentioned in the last post, I now have my brand new camera, so no more ropey phone pics, huzzah! Unfortunately I hadn't gotten around to attaching the wrist lanyard and I was so paranoid about dropping it into the depths on its very first outing that I didn't dare put it below the water surface. Such a coward. So, although some of the pics I took turned out ok, the vast majority were of blurry surface ripples and reflections.

I don't really know what these are!

Crops from the above two images

The upper looks like some sort of communal worm, but I suspect they may in fact be a Tubilipora bryozoan in an upright growth form. They are very small, whatever they are. The lower is a hydroid, I know that for sure. I'm relatively happy it is Coryne pusilla, although I can't be certain it isn't Coryne eximia. I think it's the former though. I wasn't expecting to collect any samples, so didn't have a pot with me. I think I'd need to microscopically check a few more details before confidently naming this hydroid. One for next year, when the pontoon is back and has been recolonised! 

Of the blurry-type of image, I managed these two which show an intriguing-looking sea squirt. I have no idea of the species involved. Maybe if I'd have put the camera into the water... 

Erm..?

Best of all though were quite a few of these seaslugs, and a lifer for me too! 

These are the barnacle-munching Onchidoris bilamellata

This is Onchidoris bilamellata, otherwise known as the Rough-mantled or Dusky Doris. I think I'll stick with the scientific name. It was quite frequent on the pontoon, often just a few centimetres below the water surface and not at all bothered by having a camera pushed almost into its face. I hope these drop off and back into the water once the pontoon is lifted out to be cleaned. Onchidoris is number 6839 on my PSL and one of only four Mollusc lifers this year (a terrestrial slug and two species of oysters being the other three). 

The guys in hi-viz jackets were quite clearly watching me, doubtless wondering if I was in fact bluffing about being a naturalist and was in fact a full-blown lunatic. I wussed out and quit before they called the harbour police or somesuch. "See you next year then" I merrily said as I passed them by. "Er, righto" came the puzzled response.  

I popped into a nearby shop for food and Red Bull. I do sometimes wonder if I should be sponsored by Red Bull, and suddenly realised I was parked next to a wall covered in flowering Ivy. There were a few calliphorids floating about the blossoms, but I didn't have my net with me so they survived unscathed. Presumably Calliphora vicina or vomitoria, those are the two common bluebottles up here. What I was more interested in were the mature buds. 

Mature buds on the tips of young shoots. That's important, apparently.

These are no good - too mature and already flowering

And why the sudden interest in Ivy buds, I hear you ask? Well, because the local BSBI Recorder has been approached with a request for mature Ivy bud pics from this part of the world. It's a bit of a complicated story, but in a nutshell there's a guy who is looking at bud shape as a possible way of differentiating between Atlantic Ivy, Common Ivy and garden cultivars. Which in itself doesn't sound particularly complicated, but there are an indeterminate number of races and hybrids and backcrosses of the ivies in Britain and nobody, it appears, has much of a clue as to where they all are seeing as ivy taxonomy is a bit up in the air. 

More (potentially much more) of ivies and their buds in future posts. Always leave your readers on a cliffhanger....

Male Episyrphus balteatus sunning on a Japanese Knotweed leaf

This is probably Scathophaga furcata, also on Japanese Knotweed.

Creeping amongst Conifers

I awoke rather refreshed, it seems I'm finally getting used to sleeping in my latest car. It's definitely not as comfy as the old one, maybe I should test the next one for sleepworthiness before purchasing. 

I had gen for Creeping Dogwood at its sole Scottish site, Pitgaveney Wood just outside of Elgin. In fact, the layby I had slept in was on the edge of those very woods. I figured this wouldn't take much time, tick the Creeping Dogwood and then spend a bit of time searching for self-sown Norway Spruce, this being a bit of a massive omission on my plant list. I've certainly seen Norway Spruce before, indeed I've collected the cones in a failed attempt to breed out Cydia strobilella, a small species of moth (I did manage to breed out some pretty funky snakeflies though!) But I have never noted it as being fully naturalised and hence tickable. Today I would remedy that omission. 

I followed a small track into the woods, noting at least six or seven dilapidated 'camps' in amongst the deep cover. Mostly old tents and tarps, but one pretty decent affair consisting of cut logs and branches leaning against a fallen tree, complete with a nice cleared patch for a firepit. Lots of discarded beer cans and the odd glass bottle too. Oh well, it is near a built up area I guess... 

Anyway, I criss-crossed the area for some while. I double-checked my gen. I double-checked my position. Hmmm, I should be right on top of the reported "good sized patch" and "lots in woodland" but I was buggered if I could see anything. I did some more criss-crossing through the undergrowth, which mostly consisted of low conifer branches and not a lot else. Surely a "good sized patch" of evergreen leaves shouldn't be this difficult to locate? And then, quite suddenly, in an area I'd surely walked around and across several times, I found it.

A-ha!

Ok, so it was a somewhat smaller and sparser "good sized patch" than I was anticipating but, after a mere thirty minutes or so stumbling around a few hundred square metres of woodland floor, here I was looking at my first ever Creeping Dogwood Cornus canadensis. Huzzah, that's number 6838 on my PSL! I had a closer look and took a few more pics.

Creeping Dogwood in all of its vegetative glory. The flowers are pretty spectacular, I may have to return!

Pleased to have finally found the plants, the grid ref is NJ23396463 by the way, a mere 200ft from where I'd parked up, I turned my attention to the various conifer species growing and self-sowing throughout the woodland. The cones of Norway Spruce are pretty damn obvious, each being 15-20cm long and looking like a fat Cuban cigar. Sitka Spruce, also present in these woods, has similar cones but they only ever attain a maximum length of about 10cm and, bulkwise, are tiny in comparison. I wouldn't be too upset if a Sitka cone fell and hit me on the head, but I suspect a falling cone of Norway Spruce would definitely result in a small ouch! of surprise. 

Western Hemlock-spruce Tsuga heterophylla

Western Hemlock-spruce was by far and away the commonest self-sown alien conifer in the woods. Note the needles are of two lengths, those on the upper half of the midrib are shorter than those on the lower half. Two sizes of leaf, hence heterophylla. But this was not what I was after, I continued onwards. 

Western Red-cedar Thuja plicata

There were quite a few Western Red-cedar Thuja plicata scattered through the woodland understorey too. The underside of the branchlets show "white butterfly" markings, which helps to separate this species from various others. But again, not what I was looking for this time. I moved on once more.

Tremella mesenterica growing on an old Gorse stem

I think this is probably gone over Lily-of-the-Valley Convallaria majalis

It's been many years since I last saw Lily-of-the-Valley, so I'd like to revisit these gone over plants next summer, just to confirm they are what I think they are. There's probably a microfungus on them that would be new for me, annoyingly I didn't consider that at the time. Hopefully they'll be in flower at the same time as the nearby Creeping Dogwood, sometime around late spring should be about right I think. 

This is Sitka Spruce, a tree I'm all too familiar with seeing

Sitka Spruce Picea sitchensis is a complete and utter thug. It is extremely invasive and, as far as I'm aware, is not on anybody's radar as being one of the largest threats to biodiversity in Scotland. I think I'd put it ahead of Rhododendron ponticum for the impact it will have on the landscape in about twenty years time, maybe less. Biological control is required, which obviously won't be popular with the timber industry, but I just don't know what else could slow and tame the spread of this beast. Anyway, the cones are far too small and the needles far too bluish and spiky for Norway Spruce. I moved onwards once more. 

Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii

There was one area that had a lot of Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii planted, though it wasn't self-seeding that I could see. The needles are distributed around the entire twig and are soft to the touch. The cones are dead easy to recognise, it looks as though the back end of a mouse is hanging out from each scale! But again, not the tree I wanted to find today. I continued onwards. 

Can you see it? 

Full zoom on my phone!

This Red Squirrel scampered across my path and up a tree where it patiently waited for me to unlimber my phone from my pocket, point and shoot. It then scurried higher into the canopy and scolded me for no good reason. I'm not sure I've ever heard a Red Squirrel make a noise before, it was much less harsh than the noise a Grey Squirrel makes. But why aren't you using a proper camera? I hear you cry. Well because I broke it, that's why. Happily the replacement is arriving within the next day or so, hopefully the images will be a lot better from the next blogpost onwards....

Is this a Western or Eastern Hemlock-spruce???

I'm really not sure what this is, I need to go back armed with some literature and key it properly. If it is Eastern Hemlock-spruce, which I think it could well be, it will be new for me and new for the area too. Hmmm, yep I definitely need to come back in the summer!

I'm always pleased to find Stag's-horn Clubmoss Lycopodium clavatum

Doesn't matter how old or how young the tree, the persistent paired cones are a feature of Lodgepole Pine

And this is how more Lodgepole Pines are made...

Lodgepole Pine Pinus contorta was growing plentifully in the more open areas, self-seeding en masse alongside the native Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris which was also self-seeding en masse. I didn't think to take any pics of Scots Pine, which was a pity. What did catch my eye were the numerous Juniper Juniperus communis bushes growing in a very upright fashion, in stark contrast to yesterday's Junipers growing on exposed rocks at Invernaver. 

Young Juniper bush in open birch woodland edge

Sadly for me, Juniper was the last conifer noted that day, apart from many planted larches which I didn't examine closely enough to get to species. So, Norway Spruce has eluded me once more. Damn. It's not uncommonly planted in forestry plots, and it's well-known for self-seeding where it does occur, so I feel relatively confident it will soon fall for me. I hope so anyway, if I can't find a common tree there's little hope for me as an amateur botanist.