Kirkcudbrightshire Botany Group at Polmaddy, 23rd August 2024
A group of nine of us met at Polmaddy Settlement, the ruins of a traditional Galloway farming village abandoned over 200 years ago. It is a beautiful setting with the remains of the buildings scattered over a gentle slope within a loop of the Polmaddy Burn and a backdrop of the Rhinns of Kells.
As is customary, we spent the first few minutes examining the short turf of the car park and then followed the path across the burn. The burn was in spate after recent heavy rain and the bridge gave a good vantage point to look at the range of interesting plants on the sides of the rocky gorge which included Common Rock-rose Helianthemum nummularium, Wood Vetch Ervilia sylvatica, Honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum, Goldenrod Solidago virgaurea and Burnet Rose Rosa spinosissima.
On reaching the grassland on the other side we immediately found a good population of Spignel Meum athamanticum and indeed this proved to be locally frequent in the sward across the whole site. Accompanying it here were several well-grown plants of Northern Bedstraw Galium boreale, taller than we have seen this plant before, and now in seed. It was growing with Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria, Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris, Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra, and Devil’s-bit Scabious Succisa pratensis making a wonderfully colourful mixture.
This first area that we looked at, just across the bridge, proved to be the richest, and, as we walked westwards we encountered much more species-poor grassland dominated by Yorkshire Fog Holcus lanatus, Purple Moor-grass Molinia caerulea and Bracken Pteridium aquilinum, but still with occasional clumps of Spignel. There were also wetter areas of mire or bog with Heather Calluna vulgaris, Bell Heather Erica cinerea, Cross-leaved Heath E. tetralix, Bog-myrtle Myrica gale, Bog Asphodel Narthecium ossifragum, Cranberry Vaccinium oxycoccus, and in one place, Round-leaved Sundew Drosera rotundifolia. Denise recorded the Sphagnum moss species which were: S. palustre, S subnitens and S capillifolium. Other highlights were Pale Sedge Carex pallescens, Whorled Caraway Trocdaris verticillata, Marsh Hawk’s-beard Crepis paludosa and Burnet Saxifrage Pimpinella saxifraga. We noted that the edges of the smaller paths seemed to have the richest mix of species, possibly because low-level trampling keeps the coarser grasses under control. There are three fine veteran ash trees Ash Fraxinus excelsior.
This grassland area appears unmanaged, which the Spignel can probably tolerate for a while, but Bracken seemed to be encroaching and we discussed the desirability of some cattle grazing in late summer or autumn to prevent Bracken and Molinia becoming dominant and in order to give smaller plants a chance.
As we walked, Scotch Argus Erebia aethiops butterflies fluttered around us, and Pete and Jim recorded a number of other invertebrate species.
On our return to the car park, David spotted Slender Trefoil Trifolium micranthum, a plant with only one previous record in VC73, so this was a star find!
We recorded 124 species in NX5987 and 59 species in our second monad NX5887.
With my thanks, as always, to the members of the group for their company and contributions.
Sarah White
