2023 County Report for North Ebudes

Stephen Bungard, Joanna Walmisley

Over 7,100 records were added to the DDb including fourteen taxa new to VC104 and about 110 new hectad records. The new taxa are mostly garden escapes or planted, but Sedum villosum (Hairy Stonecrop) was an impressive addition to the native flora and Pimpinella saxifraga (Burnet Saxifrage) seems likely to have been introduced with imported soil. Late records from 2022 included Scilla verna (Spring Squill), new to Skye.

Eyebrights: Euphrasia × eurycarpa was a first for Skye and Euphrasia arctica × micrantha × scottica is a new triple hybrid. Eighteen Hieracium (Hawkweed) specimens were also sent for determination.

Skye Botany Group met roughly monthly from May to September. The focus was on SHARPP, interspersed with meetings of more general interest. Locations included Raasay, Canna/Sanday and some spectacular parts of Skye: from Dunvegan Castle for ferns with James Merryweather, to Trotternish and the cliffs of Preshal More and Sgùrr Bhreatail.

SHARPP success rate is just over 15% with only a few plants deemed completely gone. The list of targets remains long and a further year would be welcomed.

A talk on the Flora and Vegetation of Raasay was given on Raasay and repeated at a Highland Biological Recording Group meeting. Subsequently, there has been considerable interest locally in Raasay’s temperate rainforest and the Carbon Neutral Islands Raasay project is looking to preserve and increase native woodland.

Plant Atlas 2020 was drawn to the attention of HBRG and to Skye and Lochalsh Environmental Forum by an article in their newsletter.