Lesser hawkbit on the move
Even familiar parts of our local landscapes can spring surprises. For many years a favourite winter walk for Pat and I was along the higher parts of the road from Glenleraig to Ardvar (NC1531-1632). This gave us 5km of exercise with good views of Quinag to the south-east and Eddrachillis Bay to the north. An account of the wildlife of this area was posted on 21st September 2013, under the title Walks on the wilder side: Glenleraig to Ardvar. I still walk parts of this road on sunny days in the winter, though not the whole stretch, since some well-loved features disappeared from the western end when the road was resurfaced in 2021.
On 19th December 2021, I set out from the uppermost of two old roadside quarries at Bad an Dioboirich (NC158318). Views of western side of Quinag, lit by the low winter sun, were as good as ever (photo 1), although there wasn’t much to see closer to the road. On returning to the quarry (photo 2), I noticed that during the summer most of the rocks and soil dumped there over several years had been removed, to level up the verges of recently resurfaced sections of the road. The bare soil remaining had had a few months to green up with a variety of plants typical of such disturbed ground (photo 3).
Plants of disturbed ground
The habits of a lifetime prompted me to make a short list. Prominent were the large furry leaves of foxglove Digitalis purpurea, lacy rosettes of common ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris, spiny rosettes of spear thistle Cirsium vulgare and, amongst them, a number of smaller species. The shiny spoon-shaped leaves of daisy Bellis perennis were obvious enough, but there were a selection of other small composites with wavy-edged leaves. One even had a very late flowering head, yellow with the outer florets grey-violet below.
The two commonest yellow composites in such situations locally are autumnal hawkbit Scorzoneroides autumnalis and cat’s-ear Hypochaeris radicata. The former (photo 4) has smooth leaves and outer florets that are reddish below. The latter has leaves quite densely covered with simple hairs and outer florets that are often grey-violet below. Both were present, but there was also a third species, also with outer florets grey-violet below, but less hairy leaves (photo 5). Through a x10 lens this proved to have its hairs forked at their tips, which made it lesser hawkbit Leontodon saxatilis, a much rarer plant (photos 6-7).
I had no camera on that occasion (big mistake), but went back to get photographs and some sample leaves on another sunny day on 27th December. By that time the one flowering head had disappeared, perhaps grazed by red deer. However the leaves were still visible.
The discovery of lesser hawkbit
Lesser hawkbit has an interesting history in West Sutherland. There was an old record from Sheigra (NC1860), where it was noted by Archie Kenneth in 1966 and, in view of its scarcity in the north of Scotland, mapped as an introduction (New Atlas of the British Flora, 2002, p. 620). On 2nd August 2011 Pat and I came across a small clump at Oldshoremore (NC1958) and returning to Sheigra on 24th August found it there on the dunes in huge quantity.
Meanwhile, we had recorded it in scattered places along the road from Oldshoremore east to Rhiconich, and then sporadically south along the A894 as far as Assynt, where we found it on 11th August 2011, at the junction of the single track with the A894 at Newton (NC2331). It is locally abundant on either side of the junction (photos 8-10) and extends west along the single track to Allt a’Ghamhna (NC2132), but at that time apparently no further.
It occurred patchily over Skiag, often adjacent to laybys or the sand and salt heaps on hills, but appeared to be absent from more level roads elsewhere in the parish. So its appearance at Bad an Dioboirich is a significant local extension of its known range. It will be interesting to see if it survives at this site.
Its liking for sand dunes and roadsides on hills suggests salt-tolerance, and it may well get moved around on machines used in road maintenance and the tyres of other vehicles. For the record, we have since extended its known distribution on roadsides east along the north coast to Inverhope (NC4760) and south to Morefield near Ullapool (NH1196).
Ian M. Evans