Assynt Meeting June 18th to 22nd 2006


Castle near carex recta Carbisdale Castle near Carex recta site

Trientalis europaea Trientalis europaea (Chickweed Wintergreen)

Carex recta Carex recta (Estuarine Sedge)

Coast to coast or The Bog

The next day we split into two groups. One group was prepared to spend the whole day searching a giant bog for the rare Dactylorhiza lapponica (Lapland Marsh-orchid). A few of us didn't fancy this provocative incursion to enemy territory so we organised a separate expedition to three or four sites spread out as far as the East coast at Golspie. The Major, being the sort of man he is, took the tougher option and set out with a few chosen botanical paras to the giant bog.

The first mission of the wimps platoon, was to see Carex recta (Estuarine Sedge) at a site (Invershin) which the Major had identified for a possible visit on the way to Lochiniver. A few of us had failed that mission so we decided to try again.

The site itself is close to Carbisdale Castle on a hill, which gives a much better clue to where to stop than a mere grid reference.

Crossing a footbridge and descending a steep slope to the flood plain of the river, we were soon near the predicted site for Carex recta. The instructions were spot on and we found it almost immediately. There was plenty of the plant and the characteristic of the lowest bract overtopping the flower spike made the sedge easy to identify but difficult to photograph.

On the way back up the slope we found a small stand of Trientalis europaea (Chickweed wintergreen) and one with three flowers instead of the usual one. Also on the way back up there were a couple of moths posing in the vegetation and as luck would have it, one of our number was able to identify the white one as a Common Wave. (page 9)