Pollinators and gentians at Clachtoll
Pollinators
On 14th August 2025 Andy Summers organised a pollinator count on the paddock in front of his house at Clachtoll (NC0427), which is part of the Highland Wildflower Meadow Mosaic (photo 1). I went along to help.
The count was carried out by two families staying on the nearby campsite, one from the Black Isle and the other from Ilkley in Yorkshire (photo 2). Pollinators were a bit sparse after a period of overcast weather, the most numerous being small flies on the flowers of meadow buttercup. However, there were also common carder bees Bombus pascuorum, honeybees, a micromoth and plant bugs (possibly hunting other small insects).
The paddock is fenced from rabbits and sheep, and allowed to flower over the summer, resulting in a very good showing of knapweed, lady’s bedstraw, red bartsia, red clover and many other species (photo 3). It is grazed hard by Andy’s Hebridean sheep over late autumn and winter, after the knapweed has seeded. This has resulted in a rich grassland sward, with scattered small bare patches. In contrast, adjacent grasslands in Clachtoll are grazed short all year round, as are most of those around the coast of Assynt.
Gentians
In the bare patches there were many plants of autumn gentian Gentianella amarella, subspecies septentrionalis, a British endemic found especially in Northern Scotland (photos 4-5). This subspecies has large numbers of small creamy-white flowers, sometimes suffused with purplish-red (but not noticeably in this case).
Autumn gentian is a biennial, which is not uncommon on roadsides and limestone in the east of Assynt, and also occurs sparingly in coastal grasslands between Achmelvich and Stoer. However, we had only ever previously noted it at Clachtoll, in small numbers, on the clifftop path to the Split Rock.
On 19th August, Gwen Richards and I returned to the paddock to estimate the number of plants present. We counted at least 150, mostly in the eastern part of the paddock (NC042276). Andy followed this up with a count, on 21st, of another population at the western, seaward, end of his croft (NC038277, photo 6), where he found a further 140 plants, although he thought that this was probably an under-estimate.
This must be the largest population of autumn gentians in Assynt, an indication of how flower-rich, and good for pollinators, coastal grasslands can be under sympathetic grazing regimes.
Ian M. Evans