I had the most fantastic couple of days walking in the western Cairngorms last week. I tried not to get too distracted by bryos but did make a few records and I have quite a few samples still to go through (hopefully including some
Kiaeria species). There was way too much snow in the north-facing corries to investigate these for snowbed species, and some of the humidity-demanding species were probably under snow too. The richest area proved to be the riverbank at Tromie Bridge. A few highlights below...
Antitrichia curtipendula on a riverbank alder (Glen Tromie)
Aulocomnium androgynum just a few metres away on humus-covered rocks
Hedwigia sp (tbc) again just a few metres away from the above species on riverbank rocks
Ptilium crista-castrensis in open woodland slightly further downstream
Racomitrium lanuginosum heath with
Cladonia uncealis at over 1000m on Carn Ban Mor. I was impressed by the extent of the
Racomitrium heath up there.
And finally, just to give a flavour of how good the walking was...
