2022 County Report for East Perthshire

Martin Robinson

The main fieldwork was the continuation of surveying potential Local Biodiversity Sites for Perth & Kinross Council.  Six sites were visited with some interesting results, not all positive.  One potential site contains the only sizeable colony of Platanthera chlorantha (Greater Butterfly Orchid) in the vice-county on an ungrazed scrubby bank.  Their numbers had reduced from 435 in 2015 to 130 this year, as the scrub gets denser. Another site had masses of Meum athamanticum (Spignel) over an extensive area.

2,312 records were made during the year, of which the most satisfying was the rediscovery of Sedum villosum (Hairy Stonecrop) in Kindrogan Forest.  It was found here in the late 1970s, new to the vice-county but not reported again, and I had been looking in the wrong place.  This year I discovered the proper location from its original finder, Ron Youngman, and found it growing along 40 metres of trackside ditch.  Another good discovery, thanks to the caretaker/gardener, was that the policy woodlands of a large house between Dunkeld and Blairgowrie were a hot spot for Neottia nidus-avis (Bird’s-nest Orchid). He showed me 63 spikes in nine locations.

Work continued on a revision/expansion of the Rare Plant Register, which is evolving into a much more informative document.