2021 County Report for East Ross & Cromarty

Brian Ballinger

Recording: continued this year in spite of the constraints of Covid. I have entered about 5000 records for the vice-county. I am grateful to contributors for their work.

Talks: I gave a talk to the Inverness Botany Group (IBG) “Three Woods and a Pond” (YouTube).

I gave a short talk on my lockdown projects to the Scottish Spring Conference. I also gave a similar to talk to a retired doctors group.

Publications: I collated the “Checklist of the Urban Flora of Scotland “on behalf of the Botanical Society of Scotland (BSS) and published:

  • “50 walls in Dundee” in the BSBI Scottish Newsletter 2021.
  • “Plants on Walls in Easter Ross” Highland Naturalist 2021 17 14-15 ‘
  • “Wild Plants of Some Northern Scottish Railway Stations - the last 19 years”. BSS news (2021) 116 43-47
  • “Plants Growing on Easter Ross Town and Country Walls “BSS News (2021) 116 39-42

I also contributed a few BSS blogs.

Urban Flora: I have continued to participate in the BSS Urban Flora Project and have entered about 4,500 records this year. I am continuing with prospective comparison studies of urban and rural flora in general and particular habitats.

Field Meetings: I co-led a successful field meeting with Mary Dean in Muir of Ord on behalf of the BSBI, BSS and IBG. I led three field meetings for the Dundee Naturalists and BSS in Dundee, Monifieth and Arbroath and co-led a BSS and PSNS meeting in Kinross.

Luzula arcuata (Curved Wood-rush)

New hectad record on Sgurr nan Ceathramhnan where Easterness, East & West Ross meet by the BSBI Wild Crew. It was also a new hectad record in Easterness and a hectad refind (after 74 years) in Wester Ross.

Potentilla norvegica (Ternate-leaved Cinquefoil)

A New County Record by Ro Scott on the Black Isle.