Isle of Skye - Woodland and Wildlife

After the week in Kinloch Rannoch, the following week was destined for the Isle of Skye. Nic, had a holiday bucket list of tour operators and guides, for kayaking, boat trips and wildlife watching ... Which was fine with me, as she could drop me off somewhere, whilst she went kayaking/boat tripping/wildlife watching. As always the plans were weather dependent.

After arriving at the holiday cottage, unloading and unpacking, there was enough time for an excursion. The weather was negligible wind, very low cloud, rain and a calm sea, that pointed to a wildlife excursion, which in turn threw up a candidate location in the Kyleakin Hills, that held the promise of otter spotting and coincidentally with nearby oak woodland designated as a Special Area of Conservation.

After parking up, there then followed some less than optimal map reading on my part, eventually Nic located a suitable vantage point for a wildlife watching vigil and was immediately rewarded, with an otter feeding on the shore. One pair of binoculars and two people, is never a satisfactory combination, so I went for a recce of the woods and on my return, was informed in hushed tones, that there were now two otters and clearly visible with the naked eye. A good start to the holiday, a few days of cloud and rain meant  this area was visited on further occasions and we were rewarded with more extended viewings of the two otters and also a large pod of dolphins.

 

The woodland contained older krummholz oak trees shaped by the wind and also a few wind thrown, uprooted oaks, still alive and adapting their canopy growth from their trunks horizontal orientation. It was also apparent that the woodland was regenerating, with seedlings and saplings of all the indigenous tree species present. The small downside was that the woodland grew over Torridonian sandstone, I have longed formed an opinion that Torridonian landscapes are some of more arduous to traverse and the woodland was no exception to that rule.



With the sea in close proximity, a high annual rainfall, the climate is decidedly Oceanic and the woodland appears an optimal habitat for communities of mosses, liverworts and lichens. The woodland certainly possessed an atmosphere, enhanced by autumnal colour in the canopy and field layer, rain wetted surfaces added vibrancy to the colours.



Heavy rainfall also posed problems with one excursion and streams in full spate, on a trip out to the Rubha an Dunain peninsula. The excursion was abandoned, when a safe fording point of an otherwise innocuous stream could not be found, without a tedious detour upstream and a look at the OS map indicated there was the prospect of fording a number of larger streams draining greater catchment areas. Every cloud has a silver lining though, on the return journey back to the car park, we watched a pair of white tailed eagles quartering the peninsula, before disappearing from view up into Cuillin Corries in Glen Brittle.

Heavy rainfall did ensure that waterfalls were impressive and the Black Cuillin had a certain atmospheric feel to them.

I'll cover some landscape photography and geology excursions, made in more clement weather, in the next post.

Upland birchwoods

A recent trip to the Scottish Highlands, staying at Kinloch Rannoch and upon arrival it was apparent the autumnal colour palette of deciduous trees, meant plans needed to be revised, to take advantage of the photographic opportunity presented. The appeal of photographing upland birchwoods, increased after a frustrating trip up Ben Lawers, that achieved nothing more than the following a 'munro baggers trench' and some very infrequent breaks in a persistent band of cloud that blanketed the summits and obscured the views. Disappointing, as I venture into the hills for the views, not to tick off a hill list. The small consolation of the Ben Lawers ascent, was a brief, but impressive Brocken spectre.

I decided that my photographic ambitions be revised from summit views, to finding an autumnal upland birchwood, with hills in the background under an atmospheric sky and given the iffy Mountain Weather Forecasts, of high winds and low percentages of clear summits, it seemed a wiser choice.

Ordnance Survey maps were appraised for deciduous woodland, then cross referenced with online historic 1:10,560 OS maps and then satellite imagery, to eliminate newly planted or regenrated woodland. A comparison of modern OS maps and the 19thC OS maps, also lends credence to woodland historians assertions that some upland birchwoods are mobile in the Highland landscape. It soon became apparent that there were a number of locations to choose from and in absence of a strict definition, I decided that anything above the 300m contour line would be a reasonable basis to define an upland birchwood, ecologists would rightly beg to differ, but it seemed a reasonable cut off point for my needs. Locations were then assessed for : geology interest, interference of views from municipal infrastructure, expansive views etc and a list of potential sites arrived at to visit, weather permitting.

The weather duly obliged with sunshine and showers.

Of the upland birchwoods visited, some had been enclosed with deer fences to allow natural regeneration to take place, whilst others were left open and I can only assume that deer were being controlled, as there were signs of woodland regeneration with saplings growing. Where there were no deer fences or apparent controls on grazing pressure, the woodland showed no signs of regeneration. In all the upland birchwoods visited, Bracken was conspicuous by its presence in the field layer and adjacent landscape, prompting some ecologists to speculate that these were formerly Oak woods.

A ravine chanced upon, revealed the potential for the wider Highlands landscape, if the grazing regime changed. The mixed woodland consisted of: Aspen, Rowan, Hazel, Willow and Birch, that contributed to an excellent autumnal colour palette

The decision to lower ambitions from summits to lower elevations proved a good decision and some less visited parts of Perthshire were explored.

The Black Wood of Rannoch - October 2016

I had briefly visited the Black Wood of Rannoch, back in May and decided then, that it warranted a return visit(s). Events conspired to present an opportunity to further explore the woodland, during a weeks stay in Kinloch Rannoch, in late October with the potential for autumnal colour.

Surprisingly for a woodland, there is plenty of literature on the Black Wood of Rannoch and the surrounding area. Through documents, surveys and maps, woodland historians have pieced together a history of the wood, identifying major timber felling events and periods of regeneration. Archaeologists have recorded iron working sites, charcoal platforms, lime kilns, saw pits, saw mills and occupation sites, to provide an indication of the level of natural resource exploitation. Scientists have published papers and reports on numerous aspects of the ecology and species that inhabit the woodland. Judging by the number of old painted stakes, marker posts denoting transect lines and new orange spray painted stakes, the Black Wood is an area of ongoing scientific research and monitoring activities.

Granny Pines and regeneration, in the Black Wood

Geology, Glaciation, Climate and Soils

The geology underlying the Black Wood is predominantly Dalradian metasedimentary rocks, though away from streams, bedrock exposures are limited.  The area has been repeatedly inundated by glacial ice during the Quatenary, the last time during the Loch Lomond stadial. The littoral of Loch Rannoch provides evidence for the origin of glacial debris, as amongst the metasedimentary rocks of local origin, are pale speckled granite rocks that originate from the Moor of Rannoch granite pluton to the west of Loch Rannoch. Analysis of glacial landforms has allowed Geomorphologist to hypothesise that an Ice Cap ~1 Km thick, formed over Rannoch Moor during the Loch Lomond stadial, with outlet glaciers spreading out across the landscape. The study of glacial landforms has led some to hypothesise that there were areas of cold and warm based Ice and that the cold based Ice may have preserved relict landforms from previous episodes of glaciation.  When the climate ameliorated, the Loch Lomond stadial glaciers retreated and the Ice Cap down wasted, leaving behind an extensive assemblage of glacial till, morainic debris and glaciofluvial deposits, mantling the land.

Stream exposure of inclined bedrock and riparian woodland

The metamorphic bedrock underlying the woodland is relatively impermeable and rainfall drains through the superficial deposits and soil layers. The Loch Rannoch area receives a mean annual rainfall of ~1.5 metres and higher amounts over adjacent elevated ground. Away from forestry tracks and wandering along animal track ways that contour the slopes, there are a surprising number of spring lines and flushes encountered.

Flush mosses 

The nature and topography of the woodland floor has generated a range of soils: mainly podzols, gleys and peats. The diverse nature of the ground topography and soils has created a mosaic of micro-habitats within the Black Wood of Rannoch, exploited by flora to produce vegetation communities in ground and field layers of: mosses, rushes, sedges, grasses, herbs, shrubs and bracken.

Woodland history

The general consensus amongst woodland historians is that once upon a time the Black Wood extended further west, east and south. The combination of over grazing and unsustainable tree felling, reduced the wood to a core area, with Gaelic place names, Old maps, remnant Scots Pines, hinting at the former extent of the wood. Matters could be far worse, if it wasn't for enlightened individuals in times past, initiating programs of woodland regeneration, but on the whole it has been a case of gradual decline. From 1947 the Black Wood, has been managed by the Forestry Commission and what exists today reflects the good and not so good aspects of the Forestry Commissions management of the woodland, that they in turn took ownership of. Conservation areas, regeneration and expansion of the Caledonian Forest are the good aspects and Management plans are in place to underpin a number of objectives and ambitions.

Scots Pines and Birch

The not so good aspects of the FC's management are being revisited, non native trees removed and native trees of local provenance planted. A significant area of the Black Wood has also been designated as a Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest, legally protected and specific management plans cover these areas.


Granny Pines

Granny Pine and Birch

The Granny Pines define the special nature of the Caledonian Forest, their size and morphology, adding presence and a visual indicator of a woods age. The Granny Pines in the Black Wood have been dated by dendrochronology to the late 17th C. To my eyes, some of the Granny Pines have a form akin to pollarded Oaks, with large spreading crowns and as with Oak woodlands there is also Wood Sorrel growing beneath then amongst the needle litter. The survival of Granny Pines has been attributed to their unsuitability for timber.

Woodland floor under a Granny Pine

Hummocks

Anyone wandering 'off piste' in native Pinewoods will encounter 'hummocks' and the Black Wood of Rannoch is no exception, with 'Hummocks' covered in bilberry and heather, sometimes with a Scots Pine or Birch tree growing on them. Some hummocks are of a substantial size, others are in an embryonic state, with a blaeberry/moss cushion colonising a pine stump.

Hummock forming on pine stump

As far as I could tell, the majority of 'hummocks' in the Black Wood, do not appear to be erratic boulders blanketed in vegetation and instead are most likely formed from relict pine tree stumps, although a case could be made for wood ants nests also making a contribution. Conventional wisdom suggests the formation of a 'hummock' takes some time and they are a feature of Caledonian Pine woods with a long history of continuous woodland cover.

Hummocks

Bones of the Forest and windthrow

Foresters indoctrinated in 'modern' forestry at the old Forest schools, would no doubt be aghast at the scruffy nature of the Black Wood, there are a visible number of snags and fallen deadwood in the conservation areas within the Black Wood. The snags and windblow are a positive development for biodiversity and the organisms who are dependent on deadwood for habitat. Standing deadwood is a particularly important resource as the decay rate is slower than fallen material on the ground. The slower decay rate in standing deadwood is exploited by different organisms, to those that breakdown fallen wood on the ground, which in turn means increased biodiversity.

The deciduous woodland

A feature of the Black Wood is the prevalence of Birch, Rowan and Willow trees, that add diversity and a welcome splash of autumnal colour. Whilst Birch dominate some woodland areas, it seems that the Rowan trees are good indicators of the grazing level, in one enclosure where deer have been excluded for some while, it is now dominated by Rowan, in stark contrast to the numbers of Rowan trees in the wider woodland. Having typed that there are numbers of Rowan seedlings on the ground under trees where birds have roosted and this might indicate a further reduction in grazing animals/pressure. With very little imagination, it is easy to extrapolate how Highlands woods and the wider landscape might appear with a reduction in grazing of herbivores, to conservation levels.

During the visits, significant numbers of Fieldfares were seen feeding on Rowan berries and blaeberries, plants that rely on avian dispersal and the reason why Rowan saplings, Blaeberry and Cowberry. can be seen growing as epiphytes on Granny Pines.

Fungi

I had anticipated some native Pine woodland specialists and was not disappointed.

Scaly Tooth fungus (Sarcodon squamosus)

Gypsy mushroom (Cortinarius caperatus) and Ostrich-plume Feather-moss (Ptilium crista-castrensis)

Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria)

Unidentified solitary Amanita fungus and Five-ranked Bog-moss (Sphagnum quinquefarium)

I thoroughly enjoyed my visits to the Black Wood of Rannoch, although only exploring a small fraction of its extent, there was still plenty of subject matter to photograph, much to ponder and the unique atmosphere of a native Pinewood in autumn to savour. Definitely a place to return to again.

The 5th Kingdom - fungi photography

Some observations on the travails of photographing the fruiting bodies of the 5th kingdom.

Habitat and timing

Mixed broadleaf woodland and deadwood - managed for habitat

To illustrate the difficulty in finding fungi, a prime case of disappointment, was a visit made to a woodland classified as ancient semi natural, with an underlying geology ranging from limestone, mudstone and sandstone and a flora indicative of ancient woodland, with ancient coppice stools and veteran trees. I had high hopes for a rich, diverse assemblage of macrofungi, even allowing for my 'mushroom blindness', the reality was a fungi desert on that visit.

Mixed broadleaf woodland - managed for habitat

Lessons learnt

• Some tree species have poor assemblages of fruiting fungi.
• Locations need to be repeatedly revisited.
• Fruiting fungi are apparently capricious in nature, some years are of plenty, other years not so good.
• For reasons that I have no idea about, some patches of a wood are hotspots for a number of different Fungi, whilst adjacent areas are barren. 
• Walking speeds need to be modified to a very leisured pace to spot fungi.

Photogenic specimens

Remains of a Fungi feast 

Finding pristine fungus specimens is something of a lottery. Fungi appear to be a desirable food resource for a surprisingly diverse range of woodland wildlife and then there are fungi foragers and commercial pickers.

A slug grazing the base of a Stinkhorn

Stinkhorns are particularly afflicted by slugs eating away the stem and causing them to droop.

Jelly Fungi ~ Leafy Brain Fungus and Brown Brain Fungus

Mushrooms are more vivid after rain then during dry spells. Leafy Brain Fungus, is an unremarkable dark shrivelled colour when it dries out, whilst after rainfall, the colour changes to a vivid red wine colour.

Identification of the fungi species

A troop of Amethyst Deceivers

For the casual observer some fungi are distinctive enough to leave no doubt as to what they are, sadly there are a great many other fungi that are more challenging to identify.  It is up to an individual to draw their own line where curiosity descends into more committed investigation.

Tawny Grisette (Amanita fulva)

Consider Amanita fungi, sufficiently large (macrofungi), to be visually conspicuous and as the family includes some lethally poisonous fungi, there are plenty of descriptions. The two Fungi guides I own, describe 29 and 19 species, the Dean Fungus Group have a record of 35 Amanita species and the British Mycological Society, more again. A useful website for identifying or confirming a species is www.ispotnature.org.
In a future post I'll describe a foray in an Ancient Caledonian Pinewood.

A solitary white fungus, in mature beech and oak woodland. I am fairly confident this is a Destroying Angel (Amanita virosa) due to the nature of the volva, stem texture, veil, gills and cap. 

The 5th Kingdom - Intro

Read anything about Fungi and some surprising facts are revealed. Not until 1969 were they classified as being a separate kingdom distinct from plants and animals. Another thought provoking statistic, is that in a broad leaved wood, 10% of the biomass is fungi, which is a considerable mass and not one that is readily apparent. Fungi only become readily apparent when they produce their fruiting bodies to disperse spores and Autumn is the prime time for that event in my local woodlands.

Blusher (Amanita rubescens)

The various Agarics, Amanitas, Bolettes, Brittle Gills, Ink Caps and a host of other fungi emerge from the leaf litter and dead wood.

Upright Coral (Ramaria stricta)

The Forest of Dean provides a range of habitats, from veteran trees to old grasslands, for an impressively diverse number of fungi species. Mycologists of the Dean Fungus Group run Fungal Forays all year round and the number of species recorded so far by the group, runs into the thousands and are listed on a 104 page pdf.

Newly emergent Grey Spotted Amanita (Amanita excelsa)

This year I resolved to make a concentrated effort to learn more about Fungi and make a photographic record of my endeavours. I'll post more in due course.

Black Mountains trip report

Bank Holiday weekend and on the Sunday a weather forecast to get enthused about for a late afternoon excursion to the northern escarpment of the Black Mountains. The Black Mountains escarpment is part of the Great Red Edge that runs across the Brecon Beacons National Park, so named due to the underlying Old Red Sandstone bedrock. The Black Mountains have undergone repeated exposure to the action of glacial ice and periglacial processes, yet the plateau areas show little apparent sign of glaciation. Surprisingly, comparatively little research has been published on elucidating the evolution of the Black Mountains landscape. The Black Mountains also held some importance for ancient people, as a number of funerary monuments were built in the adjacent landscape. From some viewpoints on the escarpment a number of Neolithic chambered tombs sited at lower elevations can be viewed and Bronze age cairns also occupy some prominent positions at higher elevations. The reason for the siting of the Neolithic funerary monuments locations remains an enigma.

The plan was to walk along the escarpment, with stops to take in the views and to photograph the expansive views as shower light flitted across the landscape, before looping back over moorland and deciding on where to linger for sunset.
The weather was warm and the ascent made in full sunshine, which made matters unpleasant. When the hill slope eased, unerringly, cloud rolled in and that was the last of the sun for the next couple of hours walking. Stops were made to take in the views from the escarpment, the camera gear was not required. A notable highlight was watching a Kestrel demonstrate its mastery of the wind to quarter the escarpment ridge, at times it hovered a matter of metres away, too close for the binoculars field of view. It was surprisingly warm, even with the absence of sunshine and with a stiff breeze at ~750m ASL, a base layer was sufficient.

A brighter area of sky on the western horizon provided some cause for photographic optimism. However the elevated views were marred by reduced visibility, I guess due to a moisture associated with the low level overhead cloud, whilst lower down below 600m the visibility was good. The air clarity determined where a location for sunset would be and a descent made to an outcrop of bedrock with views.
The nature of the vertical joints/fractures in the bedrock outcrop, appeared to correlate with the orientation of the ridge. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that the geological structure exerted some control on the evolution of the landscape.

The sun did sink into the letterbox of clear sky on the horizon and with overhead cloud, the quality of the resulting light was very good.

Needless to say it was a good trip.

A dawn trip to the Brecon Fans

The Met Office served up a reasonable forecast and a trip implemented.

The ticket machine at the National Trust Cwm Gwdi car park provided a time check of 04.04 hrs, surprisingly I had not dithered and no delays on the journey, meant I was well ahead of schedule. Which was just as well as I managed to miss the feint path I needed to take in the valley wood and continued instead on a more easier to follow trail into the bracken clad lower slopes. Recent high winds had flattened the bracken, obscuring trails and resulting in me thrashing my way through it, until reaching the open hillside. The small consolation of the steepness of the hillslope meant I witnessed several shooting stars, aided by the fact that there was no cloud.

Aside from contrails an almost cloudless sky.

The lack of cloud was disconcerting, the prospect of clear skies and cool blue shadows is not an appealing one. A record shot was made of the absence of cloud over much of mid Wales, to be fair there appeared to be a bank of cloud over the distant eastern horizon, which meant the quality first light would be compromised.

Things panned out pretty much as anticipated, the predawn twilight resulted in some wispy cloud and contrails turning pink, the quality first light went missing in the cloud on the eastern horizon and some warm light provided some relief for an image of the heather moorland with contrails some relief against an uninspiring sky. Sigh.

A wander ensued and a nice scene was found of a Rowan tree surviving against the odds of sheep grazing and storms, with the Brecon Fans as a backdrop and some potential for a future trip. Then it was back to the car, reflect on the importance of a sky for a landscape photograph and not for the first time reflect on how inaccurate Met Office forecasts are for dawn.