On 11th July Dorell Pirie spotted and photographed a substantial patch of a yellow-flowered clover-like plant in a patch of rough grass on the south side of Baddidarach Road, Lochinver (NC091320). She sent the photos (1-4) to the Field Club, with the suggestion that it might be hop trefoil, which I was pleased to confirm.
As its scientific name, Trifolium campestre, suggests, this is one of the smaller clovers. It is in fact a very rare plant this far north in Scotland. There is only one previous record from Assynt, on tipped earth just north of Achmelvich Bridge (NC0824) in 2019, and it has not been noted anywhere else in West Sutherland for at least forty years.
A smaller relative, lesser trefoil Trifolium dubium, occurs commonly on roadside verges locally, with similar globose heads of yellow flowers, but these are only 5-9mm in diameter as opposed to 8-15mm in hop trefoil.
Gwen and I found the plants the following day, in front of an old garage belonging to Inver House, but had no camera with us. When I returned on 17th to take a site photo (5), the area had just been strimmed, but since the plant is procumbent, it had largely escaped decapitation. It is well established in a stony sward, and appears to have thrived un-noticed for a long time.
Ian M. Evans