2024 County Report for East Lothian

Marion Moir

Records for the Database: 15,219 with help from Louise Hardy and her plant group, Caspian Richards, and Carolyn Hargest whilst working on the Biodiversity surveying project.

Helen Jackson’s death this year was a sad event; she represented one of the group of botanists who recorded for the Botany of the Lothians in the 1980/90s and was VC Recorder for East Lothian for 25 years. Her death was followed later by Alan Silverside’s death, and Helen had relied immensely on his botanical skills. So the result, from my point of view, was a lot of sorting and a good collection of herbarium specimens which had to be determined by a referee and prepared with labels for the RBGE Herbarium. Alan Silverside’s herbarium collection of Taraxacum was commended by John Richards, the Referee, and had 17 first records for VC82, including T. acutangulum from Prestongrange that he has not seen before and is usually found in Scandinavia.

Winter months were spent in making species lists for the East Lothian Council Biodiversity Plan; some areas had been selected before 2020 and were now being surveyed. Two members of the Lothian Botany Group offered to help and were given a day’s training by Ben Averis.

Dealings with the Council Rangers have resulted in a concentrated effort to get rid of Spartina anglica (Common Cord-grass) in the Tyne Estuary, where there was a danger of it spreading further along the coast to Aberlady Nature Reserve. The Council would not normally use a weedkiller but on this occasion, they have done so, with the results from RSPB’s efforts in Dingwall. It has been mostly successful but, a slight problem, new plants have grown on the edges where they don’t want to destroy the vegetation.

iNaturalist and iRecord records: I have looked briefly at these and have found some good records of Adoxa moschatellina (Moschatel), Neottia ovata (Common Twayblade) and Dianthus deltoides (Maiden Pink).

A summary of the Lothian Botany Group activities for 2024 is available here.

Taraxacum acutangulum, found at Prestongrange by Alan Silverside and confirmed by referee John Richards as a first British & Irish record

Lactuca serriola (Prickly Lettuce)

Lactuca serriola (Prickly Lettuce) found at Prestonpans Station. First recorded as Lactuca virosa (Great Lettuce) in 2023 but changed with the advice of Dr Markus Ruhsam who works on the DNA sequencing at RBGE. The midrib of the leaf is white, whilst L. virosa is brown-purple. In Scotland, most records for L. serriola are found around Glasgow. NCR

Geum macrophyllum (Large-leaved Avens)

Geum macrophyllum (Large-leaved Avens) from Pressmennan Wood on a damp path near the lake recorded by Carolyn Hargest. NCR. See Lothian Botany Group Newsletter and write-up in BSBI News.

Pyrus pyraster (Wild Pear)

Pyrus pyraster (Wild Pear), an old tree from woods near Winton. It has thorns and small round leaves, and makes an attractive small tree for Council planting. Also planted at Gullane near the carpark, and recently at Blackford Hill carpark in Edinburgh. NCR

Rorippa × armoracioides (Walthamstow Yellow-cress)

Rorippa × armoracioides (Walthamstow Yellow-cress) looking almost like a bedding plant at the eastern end of Prestonpans, growing quite tall. It is the hybrid of R. sylvestris (Marsh Yellow-cress) and R. austriaca (Austrian Yellow-cress). Alan Silverside identified this in 2011 and now refound in 2024. There are not many records for this in Scotland except in the middle belt but interestingly 2 herbarium specimens from Oban, Argyll found by B. H. Thomson in 1988.

Rosa virginiana (Virginia Rose) & Festuca trachyphylla (Hard Fescue)

Rosa virginiana (Virginia Rose) a ground cover rose used on the re-seeded Bing at The Cast, Prestongrange NCR. Festuca trachyphylla (Hard Fescue), a tussock grass, was introduced there and identified by Alan Silverside in 2011.

Cotoneaster fruticosus (Shrubby Cotoneaster)

Prestongrange roadside has Cotoneaster fruticosus (Shrubby Cotoneaster), an arching deciduous bush, golden in the Autumn, which could be confused with C. simonsii (Himalayan Cotoneaster). Identified by Alan Silverside in 2007, and revisited by myself in 2024.