2022 County Report for Banffshire

Flora Donald

I took over as the VCR for Banffshire in April. I’m very grateful to Andy Amphlett and Ian Green for entering records while the post was vacant and continuing to support me (with help also from Jim McIntosh) while I find my feet.

In total, 4765 records were observed in Banffshire in 2022, of which 84% were recorded or co-recorded by Anne Burgess who visited 135 monads this year!

Anne and I enjoyed some excursions together, including numerous unsuccessful attempts to refind SHARPP species. We spent a beautiful day at Shiel Wood Pastures SSSI with no sighting of Neottia ovata (common twayblade) but we did provide the first identification of the fragrant orchid population there as Gymnadenia borealis (heath fragrant orchid) and a new vice county record for Vicia sepium var. ochroleuca (white bush vetch). We relocated a minuscule patch of Valerianella locusta (common cornsalad) at Sunnyside beach last seen in 1983. Attempts to refind Ornithopus perspillus (bird’s-foot) at Green Hill quarry were unfruitful but Alison Peaker joined us for the search and an enjoyable square bash of surrounding under-recorded monads.

Ian Green found a new hectad record of Glebionis segetum (corn marigold) at Nether Dallachy; Jan and Duncan Davidson did valiant work in some awkward and under-recorded monads in Glen Suie, returning a new hectad record for Carex pallescens (pale sedge) in NJ21; and David Law recorded a number of new hectad records including Foeniculum vulgare (common fennel), Panicum miliaceum (millet) and Oenothera biennis (evening primrose) in NJ46.