Stoer Green: a surprise and some tinies
On 7th May 2024 Philippa and John Gilbertson of Stoer found and photographed a solitary cowslip in flower on Stoer Green (NC038283, photo 1). This is the first ever noted there. Cowslips are problematic in Assynt. There are vague records from the 10km square NC02 dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, but the first localised sighting was at Achmelvich (NC0524) in 2000. A few plants have persisted there since, although the flowers are sometimes grazed off.
Cowslips occur in cliff grassland along the north coast of Sutherland, but they are only frequent east of Tongue. Given the attention that Stoer Green has had over the last few years, it is very odd that they have not previously been found there.
Ian was out of Assynt at the time and did not get around to checking the precise grid reference provided, with Bill, until 7th June. Despite a thorough search, there was no trace of the plant. The grid reference is on the edge of a rabbit scrape and there is a suspicious hole at the spot where it was recorded (photo 2). We will have another look next year.
Other plants
Whilst we were on the Green, we took the opportunity to check out some of its other wild flowers, given the very changeable weather we have been enjoying. A striking feature is the occurrence of sea pink or thrift in quantity in the grassy sward (it is usually on sea-cliffs) and that was flourishing (photos 3-4).
A plant that likes thinly vegetated areas around rabbit holes is common stork’s-bill (photos 5-6). It is prostrate, with toothed pinnate leaves and small pink flowers. It gets its name from its long-pointed fruits. On drought-stressed examples the leaves can turn bright red (photo 7). It is only found locally in sandy grassland at Clachtoll and Stoer.
Bird’s-foot trefoil was starting to paint the Green bright yellow (photo 8), but other members of its grassland flora are much less conspicuous. The short much branched stems of sea mouse-ear have already flowered and gone to seed (photo 9). This species is almost entirely coastal in Assynt, although occasionally found on salted roadsides.
An almost equally underwhelming coastal plant is thyme-leaved sandwort. This has tiny white-petalled flowers about 3mm across (photo 10). This is again restricted in Assynt to sandy grassland at Achmelvich, Clachtoll, Stoer and on Oldany Island.
Snails galore
On our way back, we admired the neat rosettes of buck’s-horn plantain in disturbed ground close to the roadside fence (photo 11). In an open area nearby was a scatter of the shells of two small snails that can be present on the Green in huge numbers (photo 12).
The round ones, up to 1cm across, ornamented with spiralling brown bands, are the striped snail Cernuella virgata. Despite their local abundance, they are restricted in Assynt to sandy coastal grassland at Achmelvich, Clachtoll and Stoer. Otherwise, they are very scarce in the North West of Scotland, being first recorded in Sutherland in 1972.
The others, longer than wide, and about 1cm long, are the aptly-named pointed snail Cochlicella acuta. This is another almost exclusively coastal species, found locally at Achmelvich, Clachtoll and Stoer. It has also been reported on Oldany Island, probably on the sandy peninsula at Mol Ban.
Ian M. Evans and Bill Badger
Photos by Ian Evans unless otherwise stated