2021 County Report for Kirkcudbrightshire

David Hawker

VC73 Summary 2021

Despite Covid restrictions, we managed 9 field meetings, mainly in the south of the VC, with 4 dedicated individuals covering a further 40+ monads, most previously un-surveyed. Around 5500 records were submitted this year with County Rare Plant recording forms completed for:-

  • Seagrasses Zostera marina & noltii
  • Hairy buttercup Ranunculus sardous
  • Seaside centaury Centaurium littorale
  • Great burnet Sanguisorba officinalis
  • Common meadow-rue Thalictrum flavum
  • Spignel Meum athamanticum
  • Hairy stonecrop Sedum villosum (+SHARPP sheet)
  • Intermediate wintergreen Pyrola media
  • Holy grass Anthoxanthum nitens, now more extensive than previously known at its largest VC73 site

and the CRPR (incomplete) and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (new name for MOD) Kirkcudbright Training Centre Range RPR updated to 2021.

Refinds – at least 125 years after the only record

  • Sea fern-grass Desmazeria marinum 2008 (1883). Probably native.
  • Smooth brome Bromus racemosus 2020 (1882).
  • Hoary plantain Plantago media 2021 (1897); in a roadside seed mix, west of Dumfries

 New County records – in 2021

  • Wavy bittercress Cardamine occulta
  • Fig-leaved goosefoot Chenopodium ficifolium
  • Great burnet-saxifrage Pimpinella major, first acceptable record – an unconfirmed 2008 record elsewhere
  • White-stemmed bramble Rubus cockburnianus
  • Narrow-leaved ragwort Senecio inaequidens
  • Lawn lobelia Pratia pedunculata

and

  • Cockspur Echinochloa crus-galli 2016
  • Hooker’s fleabane Inula hookeri 2020
  • Greater duckweed Spirodela polyrhiza 2020

Other scarce species found included

  • Frog rush Juncus ranarius 1st record since 1996
  • Weld Reseda luteola, 3rd since 2000 The Glen A75 (Dumfries), probably sown seed
  • Slender pearlwort Sagina filicaulis, 4th since 2000
  • Lesser water-plantain Baldellia ranunculoides Loch Ornockenoch, NX5758
  • Elongated sedge Carex elongata, a third small Loch Ken population discovered

Finally, I did a Zoom talk to the Galloway NTS Members Group in November on Climate Change.  Apparently well attended and received.