2021 County Report for Kintyre

Dave and Pat Batty

A new VC record was Astragalus danicus  (Purple Milk-vetch) on the south coast of Gigha.   We visited the site later in the year and found it in turf along the edge of the beach just above the high tideline in patches of 10+m.  Overall the plant covered some 70-100m.

On the same day the finder recorded Parietaria judiaca (Pellitory-of-the-wall) in the same area, the first VC record since 1950.

In 2019 Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid) was recorded for the first time in the VC.  Covid prevented us visiting the site in 2020 but we visited in 2021.  The site is a former airbase, now a business/ industrial park near Campbeltown.  One flowering plant was seen in 2019 but in 2021 over 200 flowers were recorded in 5 monads.  The site is large and it is likely that more plants were present.  The site also has other orchid species of interest including a large population of Anacamptis pyramidalis (Pyramidal Orchid).

Two of the three Scottish mainland sites for Cirsium dissectum (Meadow thistle) were checked and found to be surviving, though at one colony there appeared to be a reduction in grazing with an increase in shrub growth.