Aliens in Kyleakin

Still on a high from yesterday's Inverness Scillafest, I headed out into the wilds once more, ready for more 'slum botany' action. I stayed local this time and meandered my way across to Kyleakin, a small town situated in the eastern corner of Skye. In an attempt to Google the population of Kyleakin (apparently it's around 300) I came across the legend of Saucy Mary, a Norwegian princess who used to flash her boobs at passing boats once they'd paid her a toll. Which helps explain why the Kyleakin pub is called Saucy Mary. Personally, I can't say I've ever spotted much in the way of exposed flesh whilst passing through. Perhaps I simply need to pay a toll...

There's a woodland walk around the Kyleakin Hills which I've yet to explore named Cnoc a'Mhadaidh Ruaidh (Gaelic for Hill of the Fox). Here's the route I initially planned to take

Circular route around Cnoc a'Mhadaidh Ruaidh

What actually happened was that I parked up at the start point, walked maybe a hundred metres, left the path to check out some polypodies and got chatting with a fisherman who is semi-retired, grows palm trees as a hobby and owns the fifty or so acres I was currently standing on. He's a pretty cool guy and we spent the best part of a couple of hours chatting away about how best he could rewild his land in a sympathetic way (I think I successfully persuaded him that planting Sitka is a bad idea), explained that he ought do his best to get rid of the worryingly large amounts of Shallon and Prickly Heath present, and to keep the Rhododendron in check too. Happily, he's been doing precisely that already, as well as planting native trees and not sowing any of those godawful 'wildflower' mixes. He also gave me permission to bring the Skye Nature Group onto his land when we come here to do the hill loop walk. 

Shallon Gaultheria shallon and Prickly Heath Gaultheria mucronata growing here side by side

Despite the miniscule sori, this is just Polypodium vulgare and not the hoped for hybrid

The day was turning very pleasantly warm and we watched maybe thirty queen bumblebees buzzing at the catkins of a stand of sallows he'd planted a few years back. I even glimpsed a butterfly whizz by, probably a Peacock but my first of the year whatever it was. Lots of small flies and quite a few springtime flowers emerging too. 

Colt's-foot Tussilago farfara

Climbing Corydalis Ceratocapnos claviculata

Hare's-tail Cottongrass Eriophorum vaginatum

A quick wander further up Old Kyle Farm Road was profitable, from an aliens point of view. Lots of Montbretia coming up in the verges, several Darwin's Barberry bushes, a few Fuchsia bushes, a single Early Pampas-grass clump (that sure won't remain as a single clump for long!) and a few Himalayan Cotoneaster bushes. Best of all though was a flowering clump of Pulmonaria. I now know there are several possibilities on offer, so after taking plenty of pics I bagged a sprig for keying and microscopic confirmation back indoors.

Bethlehem-sage Pulmonaria saccharata

It keyed through to Bethlehem-sage, key features being the upper leaf surface exhibiting the full mix of short, long and glandular hairs and the corolla tube having hairs continuing below the ring of hairs halfway down the throat. I found Bethlehem-sage new to Skye last year, but this was the first time I'd seen it flowering. This roadside clump represents the second Skye site and is just the third record for Scotland. It must be massively overlooked elsewhere. 

I next ventured down into the bustling metropolis of Kyleakin itself, intending to have a quick skirmish around the edges for pavement weeds and garden throw-outs. It all started off pretty much as expected, Procumbent Pearlwort, Ribwort Plantain, dandelions (I shall have to tackle one of those soon!), Herb-Robert, the usual suspects. 

And then I spied flowering stuff in the roadside verge just above the shoreline. Moving closer I found myself in a veritable smorgasbord of garden throw-outs, waifs and strays. I didn't think to take a pic of the area in question, so here's a Google Streetview screenshot instead

Kyleakin on a busy day. Note the Skye Bridge in the background

It seems that the locals, like most folks here on Skye, find it perfectly acceptable to dump their garden waste at the top of the shoreline. Can't say I agree in the slightest with that, but it does certainly add a bit of botanical variety to proceedings. Not all plants present were naturalised, or even partially naturalised. In fact I found a slice of Rockery Saxifrage that was so recently dumped onto moss-covered rocks that the flowers hadn't even started to wilt yet! But some of the plants here were countable

Rockery Saxifrage Saxifraga 'Arendsii' freshly dumped and not even rooted!

Of the stuff that was rooted, and appeared to be thriving, was this patch of Lovage, which is a plant I've never seen before in the wild (and you still haven't, I hear you cry. W'evs, get over it)

Lovage Levisticum officinale surrounded by last year's dead stems

And then there was this thing, which I reckon is Garden Hyacinth 'Carnegie', also known as Common or Dutch Hyacinth. Happily the local BSBI Recorder agrees, both the Lovage and the Hyacinth are entirely new to Skye. 

Hyacinth 'Carnegie' Hyacinthus orientalis (I think)

I've seen convincingly naturalised Hyacinths before, so I'm not unduly worried about the 'tickability' of this particular plant. Mind you, it's still going on my 1000 Species Challenge list (I can hear Ghostie's cries of Cheat! from here)

Lots of Three-cornered Garlic Allium triquetrum

I was a little surprised to discover that there's only one previous record for Three-cornered Garlic on Skye, found in 2019. And somewhat less surprised to discover that the other site is also close to habitation. 

Wallflower Erysimum cheiri

There is one previous Skye record of Wallflower, somewhere near Elgol from 1980. That record comes with the comment "planted deliberately in a wild situation but not established", which could render my plant as the first 'wild' Wallflower on Skye. Then again.... 

At the time, I had these down as a tulip species. But back indoors I changed my mind, the bud shape seems all wrong for a tulip. One to go back and check again soon, they should be flowering by now. If anybody happens to know what they are, do please feel free to ping me a comment. 

I think these are just a pink cultivar of Primrose Primula vulgaris, rather than Hybrid Primrose Primula x pruhonicensis. Hybrid Primrose is definitely on my radar, but I don't believe these are it. There's a patch of pink-coloured primroses in Uig Wood which I keep meaning to properly key through. They'll be up by now, I shall have to give them their annual visit soon.

I have, of course, saved the very best for last. My mind was totally blown when I came across this beast, I think I had to sit down for a second whilst I gathered my wits once more. Behold, I give you The Cabbage Thing!

The Cabbage Thing!

It's at times like this when that fine line between what is real and what is surreal begins to blur. If I grew my own veg I might be able to figure out what this thing is. I initially thought Brussel's Sprout due to the extensive scarring, but realistically it's being left as Brassica oleracea cv (cv = cultivated variety) which is probably as sensible a suggestion as anything. I'm almost embarrassed to say it, but it's new to the vice county too. 

Whenever I'm out and about botanising locally, I compile everything onto a spreadsheet and ping it off to Stephen Bungard, BSBI Recorder for Skye. If ever I find a plant new to the area he lets me know. His response to this particular spreadsheet was a little longer than usual

New to VC104
Brassica oleracea cultivated variant
Hyacinthus orientalis	Hyacinth
Levisticum officinale	Lovage
New to NG72
Allium triquetrum	Three-cornered Garlic
Erysimum cheiri	Wallflower
Escallonia rubra var. macrantha	Escallonia
Lonicera nitida	Wilson's Honeysuckle
Lunaria annua	Honesty
Pulmonaria saccharata	Bethlehem-sage
Veronica x franciscana	Hedge Veronica (V. elliptica x speciosa)
New to N72M
Berberis darwinii	Darwin's Barberry
Cortaderia richardii	Early Pampas-grass
New to N72N
Berberis darwinii	Darwin's Barberry

Ha, I'll take that! I may have spent more time travelling, and then chatting, than actual botanising but at least it added a few interesting plants to the BSBI maps. Even though every single one of them is an alien. 

Music time. One thing you learn to deal with (or ignore) when slum botanising is having folks looking at you like you're a weirdo. Well, no arguments there I guess. Anyway, talking of aliens and weird looks have a bit of this. Hope you enjoy!