Forests, hills, bogs, boreo-temperate-oceanic stuff & everything in them (incl people). Ecologist. Tweets definitely my own.
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Joined April 2015
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In case you missed it, @MossyEarth posted the first video about the #MountainBirchProject just over a week ago, where I take Rob out into the hills to do some seed collection & introduce this project that they're funding & I'm leading for @ReforestingScot. youtube.com/watch?v=pzudVBL8…
Lepidozia cupressina was a nice find right by the path on a wee walk at Falls of Foyers, only the second record from around Loch Ness, the first being in 1961 by the notorious D. Ratcliffe.
Seems this pic I took of myself & Cuilean stood by a patch of mossy stonecrop (Crassula tillaea) at Opinan back in mid September is only the second Wester Ross record of this species. As per usual, growing in a car park.
Found a new site for Canadian fleabane (Erigeron canadensis) whilst going to get my car washed in Inverness a couple days ago, second Invernesian record of this adventive.
Looking for a research project? Keen on trees & the montane environment? Here's an exciting PhD project on "mountain birch" (first job surely will be defining what that even is!) in Scotland!
We're recruiting for an exciting new #PhD project in #mountain #woodland restoration! "The genetic diversity & adaptive potential of mountain birch in Scotland for high-altitude nature recovery" hosted by
@UK_CEH, @StirUni & @Forest_Research
Apply here: iapetus2.ac.uk/studentships/…
Had to wait a bit to post this until both were confirmed, but my other 2 finds from this particular job that I was gey chuffed with were Sphagnum majus & S. affine, neither of which I’d seen before so it was great to pick them out! #Corrour
ALT Sphagnum majus
ALT Sphagnum majus
ALT Sphagnum affine
ALT Sphagnum affine
Attended a great wee workshop last week organised by @PlantlifeScot at @NatureScot Muir of Dinnet NNR looking at the nationally rare aspen bristle-moss (Nyholmiella gymnostoma), also seeing the endangered Nyholmiella obtusifolia & nationally scarce Lewinskya speciosa.
ALT Nyholmiella gymnostoma
ALT Nyholmiella obtusifolia
ALT Lewinskya speciosa
ALT Volunteers, bryologists & reserve managers amongst abundant aspens
Pretty galling seeing Rhododendron ponticum invading this strip of pedunculate oak woodland at the north end of Loch Ness. Also been historically underplanted with beech, pine & larch (not too bad) & more recently invaded by Sitka spruce, Doug-fir & western hemlock (pretty bad).
Head-in-the-sand response to this issue seems to be pretty common. Fortunately there are many trying to work on the issue itself.
So many Sika deer (Cervus nippon) around locally. Heaps of them. Can really see the trampling impact they're having on this local lochan (which I suspect is a kettle hole). A few nice Sphagna to be found still but the coralroot orchid still evades me... Must be there...
Visited the Skipinnish Oak the other day as I happened to be passing the day after it won UK Tree of the Year. It's been through a lot & is still threatened but I hear positive things are in the pipeline...
Gus Routledge retweeted
Obviously you can't vote any more, but do go and have a read of the blog by @PinkfootedGus about the Skipinnish oak, a very worthy winner of Tree of the Year 2024 #ScotlandsRainforest @WTScotsocial savingscotlandsrainforest.or…
Just opened instagram & saw this! Absolutely chuffed for this tree to get this sort of recognition! Nominated it on a total whim, wasn’t even expecting it to get shortlisted, was against some tough competition!
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Amazing field trip for #PineCon24 discussing native pinewoods missed from the inventory, how to identify them, what state they’re in & what to do about them. A great example site here.
Of course, being on peatlands I’ve always got an eye out for nice Sphagna so I was delighted to find quite a decent population of Sphagnum pulchrum! One of our most stunning Sphagnum mosses & an indicator of a reasonably good bit of bog but can cling on in suboptimal conditions.
Can’t tell you how many points I’ve probed on a 100m grid to eventually have a week where I found not just 1 of my target peatland species, but probably FOUR! First up, the nationally rare Rannoch-rush (Scheuchzeria palustris) at a new site!
Gus Routledge retweeted
It was obvious to any informed person, with their eyes open, that the Biodiversity Net Gain policy, would be abused to justify the destruction of important habitat. It is a horrible legalistic contrivance, and it means nothing.
theguardian.com/environment/…
1/4
Gus Routledge retweeted
Join us for the #ScotBotanistsConf @TheBotanics to hear all about how @PlantlifeScot are giving our pinewood specialists like this amazing One-flowered Wintergreen a boost!
Head to: bsbi.org/scottish-annual-mee… to book your place, but hurry - they are filling fast!
Gus Routledge retweeted
Join us at the #ScotBotanistsConf @TheBotanics to find out how this stunning but nationally rare Sticky Catchfly is getting on in the Ochils!
Some nice bits from a Speyside aspen (Populus tremula) woodland: Nyholmiella obtusifolia, a trunkful of Parmeliella thriptophylla & a lovely bit of aspen bracken (Phellinus tremulae). #aspentwitter
