Meeting report
Hermitage of Braid & Blackford Hill NT2470, NT2570 VC 83 Midlothian
26 January 2025 10:30 – 15:00
Leader: David Chamberlain
On a cold morning nine of us met at Midmar car park, the very place where we had assembled some 11 months previously. Our main aim was to bring up to date David’s species list for this bryophyte-rich site. Of 145 known species, around 30 had not been seen in the last five years. In the event we found at least 8 of the missing 30 and added 2 species to the list.
Initially we descended into the mossy woodlands of Hermitage of Braid and soon found Plagiochila porelloides, abundant on a rocky slope. By the Braid Burn was Dichodontium pellucidum, and local expert Warren Maguire found Chiloscyphus polyanthos on a rock in the stream and Lejeuna cavifolia growing on the bank, all among the missing 30 species. Microeurhynchium pumilum had been collected earlier in the week and David also re-found Plagiothecium succulentum. Rhizomnium punctatum was thriving on an old log along with Cephalozia curvifolia, new to the site. After lunch we found Ulota bruchii near the microscopic Myriocoleopsis minutissima, somehow found by Warren and another addition to the list.
In the morning we had seen Porella platyphylla growing fan-like on a stone wall, and P cordeana, much narrower in shape, on trees beside the burn. The tiny Heterocladium flaccidum was soon being spotted in several places, and there were at least 3 Zygodon species: Z conoideus, Z stirtonii (on stonework), and Z viridissimus. Zuzana’s favourite moss was Homalothecium sericeum on the same wall as Z stirtonii. David identified Didymodon sinuosus, thriving on concrete around a streamside manhole cover and shorter and darker than the more common D insulanus.
Finally, as rain threatened, we climbed from the Braid Burn to Corbies Craig on Blackford Hill. The bryophytes on this craggy outcrop were very different to those seen in the Hermitage and included Cynodontium bruntonii, Ptilidium ciliare, Barbilophozia hatcheri (with reddish gemmae) and some common species of acid heath such as Pleurozium schreberi, Hylocomium splendens, and Dicranum scoparium.
Thanks to David Chamberlain for leading today’s outing and to Warren Maguire for helping locate the bryological treasures of this excellent site.
David Adamson, January 2025