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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Two unexpected finds on Hill of Fare, South Aberdeenshire, today. Intermediate wintergreen, 22 flowering spikes from this year and only a few metres off a main route up, 2 previous records on the hill. Cloudberry. several scattered locations, mostly in heathy hollows, 3 previous records on the hill.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

After filling some of the gaps in 3 tetrads with few previous records, I treated myself to a gander at the lesser pond-sedge near Gartly. Despite being a rare species in North Aberdeenshire (only 2 known sites), the stand is dense, large (ca 70 m diameter) and pleasantly easy to find.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

An extraordinary density of oak seedlings at Dinnet Oakwood in North Aberdeenshire today, a natural consequence of the high density of acorns produced last autumn. It will be interesting to see how many survive to become saplings.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I'm liking this for floating bur-reed, though in a bit of a weird place: a pond surrounded by arable farmland near New Deer. Had to walk about 1 km round a huge potato field to get to it. Took flushing a quail on the way as a good omen. 4th record for North Aberdeenshire.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Hare's-tail cottongrass looking like it's going to have a late flowering on Cloichedubh Hill, Clashindarroch Forest, North Aberdeenshire yesterday. I went there on a failed mission to refind alpine clubmoss. Suspect lost due to reduction of the deer population to prevent damage to young conifers.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Fool's-water-cress has only been recorded in Kincardineshire once before, in 1996, so finding it at St Fittick's Park in Aberdeen was quite a surprise. Plenty of other species were introduced there as part of a wetland creation scheme, so I'm thinking most likely of similar origin.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Back home after 3 days of filling gaps in records from 8 tetrads in North Aberdeenshire north of Huntly. New sites for alpine bistort, lesser tussock-sedge and moschatel (surprisingly late in the season). Also three-nerved sandwort with a pleasingly symmetrical leaf arrangement.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Mountain bog-sedge, Carex rariflora, has had a good flowering season in the saddle mire below Cac Carn Beag (Lochnagar).

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Spring sandwort and thrift are both having a second flowering period amongst the serpentine rocks of Green Hill of Strathdon, South Aberdeenshire.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

After several hours recording in the intensively farmed and botanically impoverished landscape north of Ellon, imagine my delight at finding some fragments of relic heathland, providing evidence of how things were before the era of agricultural improvement.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Most of my encounters with cornflower round Aberdeen involve plants derived from 'wildflower seed mixes'. But I think the few plants amongst a preponderance of fat hen and common orache at Newton Dee may be derived from dormant seed brought to the surface during construction of a new bakery.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

In South Aberdeenshire, field pennycress records come in at a rate of under one per year. So it was nice to find a good population of them in a field of neeps when cycling along a minor road south of Garlogie today.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Made my first trip to Loch Builg today, cycling from near Crathie. Surprised to see wild strawberry on the shore, with a tiny creeping lady's-tresses nearby. Also I'm liking the sedge on the right for slender sedge Carex lasiocarpa at Lochan Feurach, a first for Banffshire if the referee agrees...

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

One benefit of low water levels is that water courses with impenetrable bankside vegetation become navigable on foot. Taking advantage of this yesterday I explored a different section of the River North Esk, extending downstream the known ranges of mountain melick and sanicle.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I do like finding brambles with 7 leaflets, all the more satisfying as they can be hard to find amongst more normal leaves with 5 leaflets. This plant with strong, broad-based prickles on the stem angles is Rubus fissus. Near Strachan, Kincardineshire, yesterday.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Stoneworts seem to be in short supply in north east Scotland, and when found are often infertile. So delighted to find this specimen which I think is smooth stonewort (Nitella flexilis s s.) in a drainage channel amongst sand dunes near Cairnbulg. First BSBI record for North Aberdeenshire.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Only once before have I had a good view of a live mole. This one started off on the golf course at Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, then headed at a fair lick through long rough to a sandy area. Not fazed by the golfers, nor by me getting ahead and waiting for it to pass by. Too hot to be down a hole?

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

The BSBI DDb has two 10-figure grid refs for bird's-nest orchid at Easter Balmoral dated 2013. At both spots yesterday I found 1 flowering spike plus 2 from last year but none elsewhere. Precision ecological continuity, begging the question why they not widespread in similar birch woodland nearby?

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

'Twas a day of massed ranks at Crathie today: a veritable forest of creeping ladies-tresses in Balmoral castle grounds, at least 1000 spikes in all; a blaze of colour provided by stems of wavy hair-grass; and a huge patch of twinflower, with signs of attempted genetic enhancement by translocation.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

There's an area of floodplain woodland by the River Dee in Aberdeen that I've been visiting regularly for over 30 years. Yet my latest visit yielded two additions: wood dock in damp woodland soil, and creeping yellow-cress on a shingle bank. Just goes to show, you've never seen it all!

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Spent the weekend trying to track down and see for myself species reported recently by others. Success rate 4/9 bolstered by some unexpected discoveries on route. 3 of the refinds were sedges: prickly sedge; greater pond-sedge; and curved sedge courtesy of @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Recording two Kincardineshire edge tetrads (all mostly in South Aberdeenshire) took me to some unexpected lycopods on the Hill of Fare (fir and interrupted clubmosses, both hectad 2nds) and a huge population of annual knawel (likely 10,000s along 300 m of farm tracks and in adjacent bare ground).

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Seen during a walk along Aberdeen promenade yesterday: floral displays much greater now the Council mows less frequently; large individuals of lesser meadow-rue, popular with the bees; crested hair-grass in full flower; dandelions laid out to dry by a collector of Chinese or similar heritage.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

At Cabrach today near the western edge of VC93 North Aberdeenshire. One site for shady horsetail seems lost (much marsh horsetail there now). Still present at another site, by the Allt Deveron though. Most unexpected find of the day was downy oat-grass, 1st record from the VC93 part of hectad NJ32.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Tried to refind twayblade along a disused railway line north-west of Inverurie. I wasn't expecting to succeed and didn't. But neither was I expecting to find hairy sedge or crosswort, and did. Both are rare away from the coast in North Aberdeenshire and may be accidental introductions.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Heath fragrant-orchid and alpine bistort, two of the more attractive plants recorded in the grassland above the Den of Pitlurg, Huntly, yesterday

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

I was hoping our ascent of Morrone, near Braemar, might yield a dandelion or two. And just look at this beauty growing in the limestone grassland: erect outer bracts; long, inrolled ligules; looks just like Taraxacum obliquum. But all BSBI DDb records for that are coastal. Interesting!

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

The most exciting find on today's Scottish Wildlife Trust Local Group botanical outing to Longhaven Cliffs was this patch of bladder-sedge, Carex vesicaria, on an old pipe-yard left to recolonise. There are only two other known sites for this in North Aberdeenshire, one of which is an introduction.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

A late flowering primrose at Longhaven Cliffs, Peterhead, today provided a kind of phenological role-reversal for the early-flowering grass-of-Parnassus reported on Friday and still open today. Seeing both on the same site visit must be very uncommon.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Surprised to find an early-flowering grass-of-Parnassus today at Longhaven Cliffs near Peterhead. With distant sedge, which is quite scarce in North Aberdeenshire despite the extensive coastline.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

This tiny area of central Aberdeen hosts three common members of the genus Senecio: 1) groundsel, 2) Oxford ragwort and 3) narrow-leaved ragwort. Growing with them are intermediaries between 1) & 2) [I think Welsh groundsel] and between 2) and 3) [though the BSBI DDb has no records of the hybrid].

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

In North Aberdeenshire, purple saxifrage is only known from 2 coastal sites near Aberdour. Drostan Leack has a strong population with several recent records and about 100 plants counted today. Not so at Dundarg Castle, last record by Grant Roger in 1956 and all I could find today is in these photos.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Mountain everlasting is very rare in Kincardineshire. Not since the 1950s has it been recorded away from the River North Esk near Edzell. So I was delighted to find a nice population by the Water of Dye near Strachan, perhaps where an old hectad-level record relates to.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

This patch of herb-rich grassland by the River Ythan contains the only colony of purple milk-vetch known in North Aberdeenshire. 28 flowering heads counted in a 2 x 1 (horizontal) m rectangle. Some heads very young, maybe more will develop. But at the far end of the local rarity scale regardless.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

After a bit of dabbling around with sleeves rolled up I managed to coax some lesser bladderwort to the surface of a boggy pool at Loch of Mortlach, Huntly, today. Luckily, the water was warm and there was plenty of dry sphagnum about to clean my hands on. Do pros have tools for this sort of thing?

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Foxtail brome is having a bumper year by the Bridge of Dee roundabout, Aberdeen. Today's total of 45 flowering heads on 13 plants bucks the recent trend of dwindling population size. Most plants were close to the metal railing: fertilised by passing dogs or protected from road spray and weedkiller?

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

I've had my eye on this patch of grass near Fettercairn in Kincardineshire for a couple of years now. And finally the surrounding deer fence has become so dilapidated I could get to it. Suspicions confirmed, it's wood small-reed, a scarce plant in these parts.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Spring squill was flowering nicely at Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh, today. Then sought without success south of Peterhead, but the roseroot flowers there were in peak condition.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

In North Aberdeenshire, wood stitchwort is only known from close to the River Deveron, so it was good find it still present when passing Huntly yesterday. And nice to find alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage and greater tussock-sedge growing nearby

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Came to Dornoch on a quest to refresh a 1973 record for the dandelion Taraxacum obliquum. I think mission accomplished within a few metres of the beach car park: the combination of erect outer bracts and tubularly-inrolled ligules are seems distinctive.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Conveniently, the path up Ben Vrackie runs just a few metres above a flush into which brown bog-rush has been translocated. Higher up, a minor detour is required to reach the base rich cliffs where purple oxytropis is just coming into flower. And near the summit we met this very tame dotterel.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Ascended Cam Chreag in Mid-Perthshire today. Trailing azalea plentiful above 800 m. Flower buds closed but a lovely colour. Interrupted clubmoss and petty whin lower down, both with only 2 previous records in hectad NN54. Also a dandelion with inrolled ligules: maybe Taraxacum inopinatum or argutum?

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Big walk in the hills next to Ben Lawers today. Plenty of purple saxifrage in flower, sibbaldia leaves just coming through. A bonus dotterel high up, then down (but still over 700 m) to Lochan nan Cat. The washed-up long-stalked pondweed surprised me, but the BSBI DDb shows known there since 1872.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Male and female plants of dioecious sedge in full flower. Specimens taken from single-sex, probably clonal, patches in a flush in Glen Lyon today. Male plants can be hard to find later in the year when their flowers have closed, the dark utricles continuing to attract attention to females.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

A rather lonely female mountain willow (Salix arbuscula), shown to me today by Les Tucker near Glenshee Ski Centre at the eastern end of its known distribution in Scotland. Note the diagnostic covering of stomata (pale dots) on the upper side of the leaf to the left of the catkin.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Hard shield-fern and rough horsetail found on a walk in glorious sunshine by the River Dee in South Aberdeenshire, between Kincardine O'Neil and Potarch. Both recorded just once before in hectad NO59, the fern unlocalised, the horsetail elsewhere. Plus a large patch of moschatel, a hectad first.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Really enjoyed #DandiFest'26, a great learning experience and collected ca. 50 new (micro)species vice country records spread across North Essex and South Essex.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

What's this? A bramble flowering in mid April? That's the south east of England for you! Essex actually, and perhaps Rubus latifolius.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Lucky to get to the old churchyard at Insch, North Aberdeenshire, before its first grass cut of the year. My favourite find was Taraxacum cyanolepis, the deep colouring on the bracts making it identifiable from some distance. Close up, the red tips to the inner ligules are rather attractive.

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David Elston @1davidelston.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

The only record of rustyback in South Aberdeenshire comes from a specimen at RBGE collected in 1958 "near Kirkton of Skene". Turns out it's still there, forming a healthy colony on a roadside wall just south of the village. Nearby some nice dandelions including the spotted Taraxacum euryphyllum.

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