Amongst the Dead

Early morning consisted of hail showers which in turn changed to heavy rain showers by late morning. The rain passed through and I headed out, fair-weather botanist that I am. I headed down to nearby St Columba's Island, burial site for a goodly number of clan chiefs and future burial ground for the existing clan chief. 

Despite being a massively important site, in historical and religious terms at least, it is largely overlooked by the tourists which makes it an ideal place to enjoy a bit of natural history. I usually spend a bit of time here in the summer months, swiping my net around in search of inverts, though this year is obviously all about the plants. Anyway, given the time of year and chilly breeze, invert action was not exactly noticeable during my visit. Happily the plants were.

Inscription plaque and bridge onto the island. That's all Salix purpurea on the right hand side

Unsurprisingly, I had the place entirely to myself. Well, apart from all the dead chiefs all around me. As I mentioned, ordinarily when I come here I'm chasing inverts with a net, so I don't think I've ever actually stood back to have a proper look at the place before. I mean, obviously I'd clocked all the headstones and the remains of the burial chapel - I'm not completely blind to non-nature stuff! But what I hadn't noticed before was that each of the larger grave sites had a huge Elder tree sprouting out from within. 

This is no random distribution, and they're clearly all very old trees. They must have been planted at the grave sites, but I have no idea why. I do know Elder was/is believed to have magical properties, including the power to keep away witches. The clan chiefs that are buried here were all Christian, so planting Elder trees to keep evil from the gravesite seems a bit nonosensical. Then again, we bring conifers and Holly sprigs into the house and kiss beneath Mistletoe during the depths of winter, all supposedly in the name of Christianity (ironically, none of those things are even remotely 'Christian'). So I don't know why these Elders are here, but they provide a great substrate for bryophytes, lichens and epiphytic plants. 

This is fully seven feet in length

But I was here to look at two particular plants that abound here, both concentrated on the remains of the burial chapel. The first was Wall-rue Asplenium ruta-muraria and this small chapel holds a greater concentration of this plant than anywhere else I've visited on Skye. I always get a small thrill at seeing Wall-rue, it really is a lovely little fern. Whenever I've been here before, usually swiping my net after insects during the summer months, I've always taken a moment to have a quick look at this colony.

 

The other plant I was here to see was Ivy-leaved Toadflax Cymbalaria muralis. It's an abundant plant across much of Britain but is distinctly uncommon here on Skye, more usually found growing through drystone walls at the bottom of urban gardens than in the wilds. But there's a fair few patches on the burial chapel. I was hoping to find a few in flower, I'm not sure why but I assumed it flowered throughout the year. Maybe it does elsewhere, but that's clearly not the case here. Shows how often I come here outside of the summer months!

Cymbalaria muralis - there's also a couple of leaves visible in the middle Wall-rue image above

Maidenhair Spleenwort Asplenium trichomanes ssp quadrivalens - very common in this type of habitat

Regardless of your religious beliefs, or lack of, this guy silently demands a bit of respect

As I turned to leave the chapel, I spied an unwelcome sight on top of what was once the door lintel

Entire-leaved Cotoneaster Cotoneaster integrifolius - undoubtedly birdsown on the top of the wall

Yearticks here were Wall-rue, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Devil's-bit Scabious, Pink Purslane, Sanicle, Entire-leaved Cotoneaster, Potts' Montbretia, Heath Bedstraw, Mouse-ear Hawkweed, Bog Stitchwort and down by the river I added Lesser Spearwort, Shoreweed and Marsh Ragwort. Not a single flower noted, not even a Daisy (glad I didn't do my NYPH here!) On the way back to Uig I spied a few roadside Escallonia bushes, well-naturalised and new for the year. I'm on 123 species now, plus Dandelion and Bramble which are currently housed separately as 'aggregates'. I'm (marginally) confident of keying a dandelion and bramble to species at some point this year, after which I'll remove the 'agg' plants from the tally. I'm not at all sure what to do with the Hieracium that appears to be undescribed. It's common on roadside rocks here in Uig, in fact I've seen the basal leaves this year, but what do I call it? 'Hieracium INDET' and count it as that?? I'm just ignoring it for now, seems the wisest move.

***Stop Press***

The BSBI have just released this page giving a brief round-up of the first day of their NYPH. It seems folks were undertaking Plant Hunts as far north as the Isle of Skye!!! Gosh, what kind of a loony would look for plants as far north as the Isle of Skye.... 😂 

Music time peeps! Just in case those Elder trees are protection from witches, I give you Wytches by Nepal Death, a massively talented psychodelic rock band from Sweden. The album is jaw-droppingly good, I fixated on it for a few months last year. It's essentially about a couple of hippies who head off to Nepal, get a little stoned and end up becoming rather too heavily involved in a religious sacrifice. Their own, in fact. Hope you enjoy! 

  

 In fact, it's so bloody good you can have the following track too. Entirely for free.