2022 County Report for Stirlingshire
Phil Sansum & Matt Harding
2022 was a productive year, with over 14,000 records made in VC86 – a huge thank you to all contributors, particularly Keith Watson, who submitted c. 3,000 records from East Dunbartonshire, and Sarah Longrigg, who made interesting new records and re-finds.
During fieldwork for the upcoming Rare Plant Register, over a third of all locally or nationally important species known from VC86 were re-recorded, along with many new additions to the vice-county flora. Highlights included Teesdalia nudicaulis (Shepherd’s-cress) and Trifolium striatum (Knotted Clover), both unrecorded for over 50 years, and an excursion to the Haughs of Airth by the nascent Stirlingshire Botany Group discovered Lactuca virosa (Great Lettuce), last seen in Stirlingshire in the 1800s.
On Ben Lomond, Draba incana (Hoary Whitlowgrass) was re-found where last recorded in 1968, and Euphrasia frigida (Upland Eyebright) and E. ostenfeldii (Ostenfeld’s Eyebright) were identified for the first time.
Filago germanica (Common Cudweed) was discovered by the Falkirk Wheel, and Plantago coronopus (Buck’s-horn Plantain), Lipsandra polysperma (Many-seeded Goosefoot), Lamium confertum (Northern Dead-nettle) and Stachys arvensis (Field Woundwort) were recorded at a site near Milngavie, where pipeline restoration works had used imported topsoil from the Ayrshire coast.
Aquatic plants were well represented, including Nuphar pumila (Least Water-lily), Utricularia minor (Lesser Bladderwort), several Potamogeton species and Hydrocharis morsus-ranae (Frogbit). Orchid monitoring continued for species such as Corallorhiza trifida (Coralroot Orchid) and Coeloglossum viride (Frog Orchid), and valuable records of Carex magellanica (Tall Bog-sedge) and Hymenophyllum tunbrigense (Tunbridge Filmy-fern) were received.
Two posters were exhibited at the Scottish Botanists’ Conference, and work continued to designate Local Nature Conservation Sites, in partnership with TWIC and Stirlingshire Council.
