Dumfriesshire Botany Group at Mennock Pass, 22nd June 2026
It was a dull but dry day when eight of us met at the small parking area at the base of Auchengruith Craig in the Mennock Pass. We have visited this area before but there remain squares that are either lacking any records or have very few. The squares on this occasion NS8510 and NS8509 had 5 and 1 record previously. The hills here are sheep grazed around the year and the grazing and burning for grouse moor management have created the largely treeless landscape. However the steep slopes, the altitude with some ground above 600m and numerous screes and flushes mean that a reasonable range of species can be found.
We started recording in NS8509 after a short walk up the road. Between the road and the river we quickly accumulated a good list of sedges including Common Yellow-sedge Carex demissa, Flea Sedge Carex pulicaris, Star Sedge Carex echinata, Oval Sedge Carex leporina, Tawny Sedge Carex hostiana, Long-stalked Yellow-sedge Carex lepidocarpa, Pill Sedge Carex pilulifera and Pale Sedge Carex pallescens. We worked our way up along the Mennock Water with one thing immediately apparent. The water level and flow would mean we would find it hard to cross the water safely to reach the area on the south side.
Herbs typical of the area included Lesser Spearwort Ranunculus flammula, Creeping Forget-me-not Myosotis secunda, Heath Speedwell Veronica officinalis, Fen Bedstraw Galium uliginosum, Yellow Pimpernel Lysimachia nemorum, and Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage Chrysosplenium oppositifolium. Hidden from the road we came across a small rocky linn with rocks supporting a richer growth out of reach of the grazing animals. So we saw Smooth Lady’s-mantle Alchemilla glabra, Sneezewort Achillea pta Armica, Raspberry Rubus idaeus, Water Avens Geum rivale, Slender St John’s-wort Hypericum pulchrum, Harebell Campanula rotundifolia, Lady’s Bedstraw, Galium verum, Polypody Polypodium vulgare and a Hawkweed Hieracium sp. That will have to be sent away for identification.
Having concluded we could not cross the Mennock Water we worked back towards the afternoon square on the slope above the road. On the edge of the road where salt had held back growth the colonists here were Marsh Cudweed Gnaphalium uliginosum, Spreading Meadow-grass Poa humilis and Sand Spurrey Spergularia rubra. Highlights from the small screes here were Parsley Fern Cryptogramma crispa and Oak Fern Gymnocarpium dryopteris. Lunch was taken overlooking a flushed slope which gave us amongst other things Bulbous Buttercup Ranunculus bulbosus, Lesser Clubmoss Selaginella selaginoides and Dioeciuos Sedge Carex dioica, our 14th sedge in this square.
After lunch we headed into NS8510. This has a deeply incised burn with slopes above rising to over 500m. We saw many of the plants seen in the morning. In places the steep ground allowed a tall herb community to survive the grazing and here it was good to find a greater range of plants notably Marsh Hawk’s-beard Crepis paludosa, Quaking-grass Briza media, Square-stalked St John’s-wort Hypericum tetrapterum, Sanicle Sanicula europaea and Large Bitter-cress Cardamine amara. It was good to refind Hard Shield-fern Polystichum aculeatum last recorded in 1974. It was also good to find a small patch of Hairy Stonecrop Sedum villosum even though on the opposite bank of the burn. On scree higher up there were good stands of Mountain Male-fern Dryopteris oreades.
Postscript
AM and CM returned to NS8509 on 7 July and were able to cross the Mennock Water to carry out recording on the south side. They added further records many of which had been recorded on 22 June. The most notable additions were probably Upland Enchanters-nightshade Circaea x intermedia, Wood Crane’s-bill Geranium sylvaticum and good patches of the Pale Forget-me-not Myosotis stolonifera and its hybrid with Creeping Forget-me-not Myosotis x bollandica.
The total records for 22/6/26 was 121 in NS8510 and 115 in NS8509. The total records for 7/7/26 was 120 in NS8509.
Chris Miles
BSBI county recorder for Dumfriesshire VC73 – see bsbi.org/dumfriesshire
