Dumfriesshire Botany Group at Maidenbower Craigs, 30th August 2025
Eight of us met in the car park at Dudgeon House on the Crichton Estate on the south side of Dumfries. The estate is now partly occupied by the Universities of Glasgow and West of Scotland and extends over a considerable area of parkland. Part of the land remains in use by the NHS. It was a day with heavy rain forecast but this was not due to arrive until mid afternoon so we set off to record as much as we could in the square NX9874. This had only 29 previous records. The possibility of also recording in NX9974 was abandoned given the day was likely to have to finish early.
We headed across the Bankend Road and up the path that links through to Georgetown. This is an old route though now upgraded for cycling and all abilities access. It goes past Maidenbower Craigs, one of our target areas for recording. Along the track there was quite a rich ruderal flora supplemented by older established hedges and grasslands. Examples from the latter were Small-fruited Prickly-sedge Carex muricata subsp. pairae, Meadow Crane’s-bill Geranium pratense, Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor, Rough Hawkbit Leontodon hispidus and Lesser Stichwort Stellaria graminea. Among the things seen in the hedges there was Plum Prunus domestica, Garden Privet Ligustrum ovalifolium, White Popular Populus alba and the uncommon Small leaved Elm Ulmus minor agg.
This Elm is a complex of local variants and much less common in Scotland than southern England with only 12 previous records in Dumfriesshire.
The track led to Maidenbower Craigs, a long known spot with botanical interest. The Craigs are not very extensive but have an interesting geology being of conglomerate sandstone and clearly from the species present having a calcareous nature. They harbour both higher and lower plants that are not found elsewhere in Dumfriesshire. Our aim on the day was to confirm that Southern Polypody Polypodium cambricum, which was first recorded here in 1972, is still present.
The challenge is that Polypody happily hybridises and all three native species are recorded from the Craigs together with at least three hybrids. Having got to the Craigs and had lunch, we quickly determined that the Polypody present is pretty varied in growth form. Telling species from hybrids requires microscopic examination of sporangia characters. However we were pretty confident that we did have good Southern Polypody given its field characters of a broad sometimes triangular outline, long pinnae and oval sori. This was later confirmed by examination of the sori which has paraphyses and sporangia with three basal cells.
The range of Polypody forms though was a bit bewildering. All others shown here seem to have abortive sporangia so are probably of hybrid origin. The two above Southern Polypody in the photo must have this as one parent.
We had lunch at the Craigs adding Wood Melick Melica uniflora and then followed the core path alongside the fields and golf course. In the fields there were a few arable species post harvesting, Common Orache Atriplex patula, Fat Hen Chenopodium album, Field Pansy Viola arvensis and Black-bindweed Fallopia convolvulus.
Near the path, at a point we were heading down through the housing estate, there was an odd grass under the trees forming a good sized tussock about 60cm high. The leaves were coarse edged and the panicle extremely fine and diffuse. The possibility of it being Loose Silky-bent Apera spica-venti was considered in the field and on further examination later. This has been OKed by Mike Wilcox a BSBI grass referee. This is a first record for Dumfriesshire. It might be a very short-lived casual of uncertain origin but this occurrence on a path reflects the sort of place it is seen elsewhere.
Our route back to the cars took us momentarily out of the square before we could come back in along the pavement on the Bankend Road beside the old hospital. The hospital is still used but they seem to have a no mow grassland policy. This allowed us to pick up some more grassland species as well as wall and ruderals. There was Small-fruited Prickly-sedge Carex muricata subsp. pairae again. Most interesting were two plants at the edge of the pavement. These were Rats-tailed Fescue Vulpia myuros, a very infrequent species in the County, and an Erigeron (what used to be called Conyza).
Initially we thought Canadian Fleabane. But closer examination and eventually confirmation from Martin Rand the national referee, indicated that this is Guernsey Fleabane Erigeron sumatrensis. The hairy bracts that are nearly as long as the flowers are key features. It had been recorded in Dumfries before on the Kirkcudbright side so this is another new species for Dumfriesshire.
One final patch of diversity was a pollinator patch in the mostly mowed grasslands. Good to see but the Wild Carrot Daucus carota and Musk-mallow Malva moschata had clearly been part of a seed mix. By now the rain had set in so we headed back to the cars at about 15:30.
Total records 174
Chris Miles
BSBI county recorder for Dumfriesshire VC73 – see bsbi.org/dumfriesshire
