Caithness CWS - Caithness Field Club - Annual Bulletins - 2007

The Leodebeste Rocky Outcrop (by Ken Butler)

2 miles north of Latheronwheel is the Hill of Leodebeste � an undistinguished peat-cover hill. The rock beneath is the Old Red sandstone, but it is a variety that is rich in calcium and other minerals. Because the flagstone is somewhat impervious in the vertical direction, the groundwater flows horizontally along the strata and collects dissolved salts from the rock as it proceeds. It emerges on the lower sides of the hill, enriching the soil of Landhallow, Leodebeste and Guidebeste as well as the Smerral valley. At one part the hillside becomes a rocky outcrop and here the rich groundwater emerges undiluted and dribbles down the outcrop to form a shallow marsh on a level plateau below. The centre of the outcrop is at ND184346.

This is a known site for Juniper, so it was due to be surveyed as part of the Juniper Survey (described in Bulletin Vol 7 No 2 April 2006 pp 39-40). It was also due to be surveyed for all other vascular plants as part of the post-2000 mapping of all plants by the Botanical Society of the British Isles.

I surveyed the site on three occasions through the summer of 2006.

51 shrubs of juniper were found. All were Juniperus communis ssp. communis and were 200mm to 1 metre in height. The table below gives the details of their location and numbers. They are marked in the second column as male (m) or female (f) or indeterminate (?) and the females as having berries (b) or not having berries (nb) . Apart from the ones with berries, where the sex of the plant is obvious, the plants were examined with a x10 hand lens to sex them by recognising the male or female flowers in the months of May and June.

Of the 51 plants:

� 11 were male, 35 were female
� 13 of the females had berries and 22 had no berries
� 5 were young seedlings perhaps 2 years old
� None of the plants were damaged by grazing, nor did any appear to be very old and dying i.e. all the plants were healthy.
� All were on the grassy parts of the rocky outcrop; there were none in the flat marshy ground below nor any in the peaty ground above.

Juniper records for Leodebeste outcrop (ND184346)

Location	Number & Sex	Subspecies	Comment

ND 18463 34646	1m + 2f(b)	Communis
ND18468 34625 to	2m + 5f(b) + 2f(nb)	Communis	In a line along the
ND 18477 34594	+ 2?		cliff
ND 18485 34579	1f(nb)	Communis
ND 18491 34559	1m + 1f(nb)	Communis
ND 18497 34555	1m + 1f(b)	Communis
ND 18494 34572	1m + 3f(b) + 5f(nb)	Communis
ND 18481 34636	4f(nb)	Communis
ND 18477 34647	1m + 1f(b) + 3f(nb) + 3?	Communis	3 new seedlings
ND 18477 34662	1m + 3f(nb)	Communis
ND 18456 34751	1m + 1f(b) + 1f(nb)	Communis
ND 18433 34797	2m + 2f(nb)	Communis

I conclude that this is a healthy juniper site with evidence of regeneration.

The other vascular plants were recorded simply as a list for the site, which includes the outcrop, the marshy ground below, the peaty ground at the top of the outcrop and the weedy roadside. The total list is given below

Taxon	Vernacular

Juniperus communis subsp. Communis	Juniper
Agrostis capillaris	Common Bent
Alchemilla glabra	Lady's Mantle
Antennaria dioica	Mountain Everlasting
Anthoxanthum odoratum	Sweet Vernal Grass
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi	Bearberry
Asplenium adiantum-nigrum	Black Spleenwort
Asplenium trichomanes	Maidenhair Spleenwort
Bellis perennis	Daisy
Betula pubescens	Downy Birch
Calluna vulgaris	Heather / Ling / Common Heather
Cardamine pratensis	Cuckooflower / Lady's Smock / Milk-maids
Carex dioica	Dioecious Sedge / Separate-headed Sedge
Carex flacca	Glaucous Sedge
Carex nigra	Common Sedge
Carex panicea	Carnation Sedge
Carex pulicaris	Flea Sedge
Cerastium fontanum	Common Mouse-ear
Cirsium arvense	Creeping Thistle
Cirsium vulgare	Spear Thistle
Danthonia decumbens	Heath-grass
Equisetum sylvaticum	Wood Horsetail
Erica cinerea	Bell Heather
Erica tetralix	Cross-leaved Heath
Euphrasia officinalis agg.	Eyebright
Festuca rubra agg.	Red Fescue
Filipendula ulmaria	Meadowsweet
Fragaria vesca	Wild Strawberry
Galium boreale	Northern Bedstraw
Galium verum	Lady's Bedstraw
Hieracium aggregate	Hawkweed
Holcus lanatus	Yorkshire-fog
Potentilla erecta subsp. Erecta	Tormentil
Primula vulgaris	Primrose
Prunella vulgaris	Selfheal
Pteridium aquilinum	Bracken / Brake
Ranunculus repens	Creeping Buttercup
Rosa pimpinellifolia	Burnet Rose
Rumex acetosa	Common Sorrel
Salix aurita	Eared Willow
Salix repens	Creeping Willow
Schoenus nigricans	Black Bog-rush
Solidago virgaurea	Goldenrod
Sorbus aucuparia	Rowan / Mountain Ash
Succisa pratensis	Devil's-bit Scabious
Taraxacum aggregate	Dandelion
Thalictrum alpinum	Alpine Meadow-rue
Thymus polytrichus	Wild Thyme
Trifolium repens	White Clover
Veronica serpyllifolia	Thyme-leaved Speedwell
Viola riviniana	Common Dog-violet
Hypericum pulchrum	Slender St. John's-wort / Elegant St. John's Wort
Hypochaeris radicata	Cat's-ear / Common Catsear
Juncus articulatus	Jointed Rush
Juncus conglomeratus	Compact Rush
Juncus squarrosus	Heath Rush
Lathyrus linifolius	Bitter-vetch / Bitter Vetchling
Leontodon autumnalis	Autumnal Hawkbit
Linum catharticum	Fairy Flax / Purging Flax
Lotus corniculatus	Common Bird's-foot-trefoil
Luzula campestris	Field Wood-rush
Molinia caerulea	Purple Moor-grass
Orchis mascula	Early-purple Orchid
Parnassia palustris	Grass of Parnassus
Pedicularis palustris	Marsh Lousewort / Red Rattle
Pedicularis sylvatica	Lousewort
Pinguicula vulgaris	Common Butterwort
Plantago lanceolata	Ribwort Plantain
Plantago maritima	Sea Plantain
Polygala vulgaris	Common Milkwort