Field Club Outing to the Seashore at Newton
A group of Field Club members braved the hot June sunshine for an outing to the shore of Loch Glencoul at Newton (pic 1). We made a slow start from the carpark, as there were plenty of interesting plants by the side of the road, including some seashore specialists like sea plantain which occur along roads due to the use of salt in winter.
A machete would have been useful to clear the rarely-used path through the bracken (pic 2) to the Unapool burn, where we found downy birch, hazel and holly. The shore yielded several wracks, including the charmingly named crofter’s wig (pic 3) and plants of the salt marsh, like scurvygrass and saltmarsh rush. The loch must be a rich food source, judging by the numerous crab shells found in the seaweed.
We decided to walk back along the shore towards the Unapool burn so that we could return to the start via a marshy meadow. The meadow was in full flower, and butterflies such as the meadow brown and peacock were numerous. Ragged robin, yellow flag iris, northern marsh orchid and marsh thistle were all present.
In all, we easily identified more than 60 plant species on a day of contrasting habitats. A full list of species can be found here.
Charlie Leeson