Managed to escape the Scottish Borders on Thursday and went for a high speed tour through some of the woodlands in East Lothian.
The route began with Binning Wood, the drier part of which has now been turned into a memorial site for green burials, but which is a long established plantation, originally planted in 1707 by the 6th Earl of Haddington. The original woodland stood for some 235 years before being felled in the 1940’s and then replanted with a variety of broad-leaves just after the war. Since then the main area has begun to develop a damp loving ground flora, varying within the plantation, depending on the substrate, but much of which seems to be dominated by tussocks of Tufted Hair-grass and the long shoots of Giant Fescue. Currently the long shoots of Giant Fescue are mainly visible as last years dead flowering stalks, with the new shoots just beginning to sprout again at the base and are tinged with a rich purple colour. Shame though about the spread of the Rhododendrons through the site.
Binning Wood – 03 May 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)
Next it was to head southwards to Spott Mill, to a steep bank of Oak woodland, above Brock Burn. Here the woodland begins with a ground flora dominated by Dog’s Mercury at the bottom of the slope. As the slope is climbed the soil thins and becomes more acidic, as a result the ground flora becomes more grassy and heath-like in nature, with the smaller and finer Wavy Hair-grass tussocks become more predominant, along with patches of Bilberry. With less grazing there would have also been Heather in the sward. As it is the Heather has been grazed out and the Bilberry remains as a very low shrub but still managing to come into flower, with delicate pink lantern-like blooms.
Spott Mill Bank – 03 May 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)
From Spott, it was to one of my favourite woods of the day, an area of ancient woodland just to the north of the village of Stenton, that runs along the banks of Sauchet Water. This is a wonderful area of Ash – Wych Elm woodland, where the ground flora is dominated by a carpet of Ramsons, with its strong garlic smell and puffs of white flowers that were just coming into bloom. Amongst which, there were also clumps of Woodruff, with it whorls of rich green leaves and the hint of the white flowers to come, as a single flower was open amongst a cluster of buds. Then there was the occasional Sanicle plant, which though part of the Carrot Family has distinctive puff balls of white flowers, which with a few days more sunshine would also be opening.
Ash – Wych Elm Woods near Stenton – 03 May 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)
Continuing south from Stenton, next stop was at Pressmennan Wood, an ancient woodland that in parts had been planted with conifers, but still has large areas of Oak woodland, with a typical Bluebell ground flora. The Bluebells were just beginning to come into bloom, so there were only a scattering of blue spots, that had yet to make that fabulous blue carpet. While here I also walked down to Pressmennan Lake, one of only four water bodies in Scotland, that are called lakes, for an introduction to wet woods, where there is Willow scrub beginning to develop over the edge area of fen. Better though was the view up the lake where the water was surrounded by a variety of trees that were coming into leaf, and producing a yellow-green highlight to the scene.
Pressmennan Lake – 03 May 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)
Finally the last woodland got rather wetter, as it was a stop at a truly wet woodland. Not exactly sure where I was at this point, other than somewhere in the depths of East Lothian. However, the Willow scrub was growing out of a fen habitat, in a scene that had an almost prehistoric feel with Water Horsetails poking their way out of the water, scattered amongst odd clumps of Marsh Marigold and tussocks of grass and sedge.
Fen Woodland – 03 May 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)
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