Orchids at the Red Well

The varied flora of the Wastart is just approaching a seasonal peak. Rejoicing in having the freedom to do so, Grey Granite and Rufus enjoyed a tranquil morning wandering about between the Red Well and Craig Ogston admiring the wild flowers. We found old friends growing in their usual places as well as a never before noticed colony of magnificent, large, magenta Early Marsh-orchids close to the Red Well, an outpost of the extensive group on damp ground a little to the East. 

The grass and sedges round the Red Well are thick with both buttercups and Lesser Spearwort. There are also several  fine specimens of Early Marsh-orchids orchids.The reddish spikes on the rocks are Common sorrel,

Early Marsh-orchid, (Dactylorhiza incarnata) these are bold upstanding plants with unmarked leaves.

Buttercup like  flowers of Lesser Spearwort (Ranunculus flammula) easily identified on account of the spear like leaves.

Cross-leaved Heath (Erica tetralix) usually the first to  flower of the four species of 'heather' which grow extensively over the heath sections of the Wastart and signal the approach of mid summer. 

 Cotton-grass  (Eriophorum angustifolium) grows extensively in the acid flushes below Pitheughie. An old friend of Grey Granite's recalls that this was collected for use as dressings during World War 1.

Heath Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata) this orchid is widespread over the Pitheughie section of the Wastart. It appears slightly later than Early marsh-orchid, usually has a more delicate form with paler flowers and spotted leaves.

A rocky outcrop beyond the second gate, the bank beneath has a rich flora and is currently thick with fading Spring Squills, the bright yellow stars of Tormentil, Birds' foot trefoil,  milkwort and white heath bedstraw.

Rufus learning to identify Tormentil and Heath Bedstraw (Galium saxatile)

Philorth Woods

Grey Granite and Rufus walked along the Formartine Buchan Way towards Rathen Station and returned to their starting point near Philorth Halt via Philorth Woods.

Rufus looks over Philorth Bridge towards the Line. There is lush growth along the roadside verges and especially along the banks of the Water of Philorth. By Rufus there is a large sow thistle and a clump of common forget-me-not.  The banks of the burn are crowded with growth, sweet cicely is just starting to open its lacy white flowers, the pink flowers on the right bank of the burn are campions, there are also large patches of bright blue alkanet and broom has replaced gorse. 

Grey Granite dislikes  invasive purple rhododendrons but concedes that bushes these lining the  drive through  Philorth  Wood from the South Lodge are impressive.

Vast numbers of new saplings have been planted recently in the Black Folds clearing, these must more than replace the trees destroyed during the winter gales.

Pitsligo Castle Garden:The Catshead Apple

The North West corner of the North West  garden contains a group of trees beneath which there is a spread of Arum lilies. The tree nearest the camera in the picture above is  a plum, adjacent to this and growing against the west wall is the most interesting of the trees, a Catshead apple, beyond the apple is a laburnum and a group of elders. The Catshead appears to be of a great antiquity.

Catshead is one of the oldest known English apples and is thought to date from the early 17th century. It is a cooking apple with an acidic fruit which cooks down to a  puree. The name comes from the supposed resemblance of the fruit to the shape of a cat's head. Grey Granite hopes to be able to check this out in the autumn.

The Pitsligo Catshead is a large spreading  tree with a gnarled, twisted trunk calloused and encrusted with ivy. It retains some vestiges of the espalier  into which it must originally have been trained against the wall. There are horizontal rows of nails in the wall among the branches indicating how the tree was trained. 

The Catshead appears to blossom earlier in the year than the newer varieties of apple in the orchard. James Grieve, Newton Wonder,Arthur Turner and the Conference pear  had open blossom on 3rd June when these pictures were taken. By this date the Catshead blossom had mainly shed its petals, only  a few blossoms such as the one pictured above still had fading petals,hopefully these will set fruit.

The nails vary in shape and size,many like the nail pictured above, may date from the  17th or 18th century when nails were hand  forged from a precut bar of iron. Characteristically these early nails have a square shank with a pyramidal rose head. Both the shaft and head show small hammer marks.

From about 1811 nails were machine cut - the shank then had two parallel sides and two tapered opposite sides. 

The Catshead trunk. Could this  venerable tree be a living link with  the Jacobites of Pitsligo Castle and of a time when orchard was famed  for the quality and variety of fruit it produced?

Pitsligo Castle:Through the garden gate

Pitsligo Castle from Barnyards. The gardens are on the left -  the north, seaward side - and are surrounded by sheltering walls.

The main entrance to the castle, this has a datestone of 1656 which may be either the date of construction or of the coming of age of the 2nd Lord Pitsligo.

The main entrance opens into what was the West Garden and Pleasance. The small gateway leading through to the North  West Garden is visible in the garden wall. The Pleasance was once divided by a long gone cross wall close to the point at which the ground falls away to the building.

Rufus peering through the garden gate.  The gateway is faced with dressed red sandstone blocks on the Pleasance side only, the lintel is not thought to be original. There is evidence of several holes for bolts and other fittings cut into the sandstone. One may be seen just above R's tail.

A group of  apparently aged trees survives in the NW corner of the NW garden. From right to left these are a  Catshead apple tree, laburnum and elders. Interestingly there is a large colony of Arum Lily, also known as Lords and Ladies, spreading from under the apple tree to the elders, densest in the angle of the walls.  David Welch describes Arum Lily as being 'occasional, often near buildings and policies so probably introduced or escaped'.The only other Arum Lily Grey Granite is aware of in growing in the area is across the road at Barnyards. It would seem likely that it is an off shoot of this large castle garden group.

Arum Lily, (Arum maculatum). 

Historically arum lily was used as a substitute for arrow root and was used to stiffen ruffs. It is an appealing thought that perhaps Lord Pitsligo's ruffs were starched using the direct ancestors of the plants still growing in what was his garden.

A line of elm trees growing on a slight bank in the NW Garden runs parallel to the wall  separating it from the  NE Privy  Garden. 

A bird's nest in a hole in the West wall of the NW garden close to the junction with the Pleasance wall. 

Looking to the North West Garden from the Privy Garden towards the laburnum in the NW corner. The apple tree in the foreground is probably a Newton Wonder and is one of a group of fruit trees including plums , cherries, a pear tree and other apples which survive close to the North and East walls. There is considerable evidence from nails in the walls that originally the trees were trained against the walls. The nails are from different dates from the 17th to early 19th centuries, which along with the varieties of trees present today, many of which were introduced early in the 20th century, suggests that the orchard trees were regularly replaced. 

Newton Wonder blossom. 
This variety was introduced around 1870 and widely planted from the 1890s onwards, particularly in the 1920s and 30s. Of the present trees only the Catshead  shows evidence of having been wall trained.

Writing in the New Statistical Account  (1845), the parish minister, Rev.Edward Humes aid of Pitsligo Castle  'The ground around is planted with young wood, and the garden still yields some of the finest fruit to be found in the county.' 

Haven of Braco a search for two iconic Wastart plants

Grey Granite and Rufus went for a leisurely walk over the Wastart to Haven of Braco This was  an expedition to check on the flowering of two iconic plants of the Wastart, Spring Squill and thrift. We also noted that there are far more orchids flowering in the bog beneath Pitheughie than when we checked about a week ago. During the last week there have been abnormally high temperatures (26c) and very little rain. As  a result many small shallow lochans are reduced to dry cracked mud in which spearwort is starting to flower.

At Haven of Braco we sat on the cliff tops watching a small group of dapper male eiders in the shallows near the shore and  a solitary young cormorant flexing his wings on a rock. Grey Granite was very pleased to see a pair of black guillemots swimming just off the headland, not having seen these beautiful birds in the area for some time. 

The iconic Wastart Daisies, properly known as thrift (Arameria maritima)  and  Sea campion, (Silene maritima) colonizing scree underneath the Stone Steps. There is an astonishing colour range in the cushions of thrift.

Rufus amongst the thrift, he was insistent that interesting huntable creatures inhabit the rocks.

Thrift earns its name from the its ability to grow in the most inhospitable of locations,  the accompanying  sea campion is known in some area as Dead Man's Hatties. This name is thought to serve as a warning to children not to explore the rocky outcrops on which it often grows.

This seems to be  a particularly good year for Spring Squill. There are great drifts of this delicate blue flower in the short grass covering rocky outcrops a few  yards inland from the Stone Steps and on the field side of the dyke along to Haven of Braco.

Spring Squill often grows alongside the commoner, bright yellow Bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)  but is far less widely distributed.